My Returning Relative
by Shaps
Summary: My Pen Pal sequel.AU/AH/Canon pairs. Senior year at Forks begins.Bella's cousin Vanessa comes to stay, upsetting social standings, new relationships and everything in general. Where did she come from? Why does she look beaten? Why does she hate Jacob so?
1. Arrival

**FINALLY! The sequel to My Pen Pal is here! More action packed than ever, kiddies, so let's role, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: (which I constantly forget to include, so this one will serve for the whole story) Twilight is not mine!!**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

I'd just gotten off the phone to Edward when it happened. I had just started reading a book when I looked up to the sound of – well, I don't actually know why I looked up. I don't recall hearing anything at all. But there, in the window, I saw someone I had not expected to see in my dizziest daydreams.

"Vanessa?" I questioned quietly as the familiar figure outside stomped up my driveway, her arms wrapped around herself. I assumed it was very cold, despite being relatively dry at the moment.

"What?" Charlie said from beside me. He'd been too absorbed in the television to notice anything else.

A moment later a knock was heard on the door. I almost fell from my place on the couch beside Charlie in my scramble to stand. I dashed across the carpet, discarding the book I'd been reading without bothering to even think about a book mark.

And then I was at the front door, yanking it open with more excitement than if Edward had been the one on the other side. _Could it really be Vanessa?_

Yes. Yes it could.

There was a moment, just before I threw myself upon my long-time-no-see cousin, in which I took in her whole appearance. She didn't look too fresh. Her shoes were the brown colour that displayed that they had once been white, she had on a pair of dark cargo pants that looked so faded at the knees I could have mistaken the worn patches for paint blotches. She was wearing a tattered yellow t-shirt with two unzipped jackets over the top; one was a size too big for her and the other was almost a circus tent. She had a single bag slung over her shoulder and was flanked on either side by two battered old suitcases, each covered with band stickers and unmentionable stains. But none of this frightened me as much as her face.

When describing someone who looks dishevelled, many typical phrases are used. 'Drowned rat' is a favourite, as is 'dragged backwards through a mulberry bush'. Neither of these was rough enough to describe how shocking Vanessa looked.

She had sallow, yellow bruises under her eyes which mixed with purple sleep lines to make a horrid, wordless shade of colour. Her skin was scratched and pock-marked, dirty and ingrained like she'd been dragged behind a car on the gravel for a mile on end. She had a single long, thin slice under her eye which appeared to be healing, but she hadn't wiped away the blood that had previously seeped down. It had dried upon her tan olive skin. Her mid-length hair was in an indescribable state of tangles and knots. But none of these were the worst – the worst of the worst was definitely her eyes.

The light I remembered seeing in them from years ago when we were kids, and the light that was there last time I'd seen a photo of her, was completely gone. Not only had the light run out, but someone had removed the globe and cut the electricity so nothing could ever be powered there again. I felt desperately sad just looking at her.

"Vanessa?" I whispered, raising a hand to touch her arm.

She smiled weakly. "Hey, Bella." Her voice was horse and worn, but she was trying not to let it show.

"What happened to you?" I stepped forward and pulled her inside, ducking back for a moment to clunk her two suitcases through the door.

"I'm fine; I just had a rough trip." She looked around the hallway as I shut the door behind myself. "Can I use the bathroom for a minute?"

"Su- sure. It's up the stairs, to the right," I pointed in the direction I meant. I was still gob smacked by her appearance.

Vanessa smiled at me. "I know, I do visit _sometimes_." She laughed, but the sound wasn't completely believable.

Then I heard the springs on the couch rearrange themselves, and I was reminded of Charlie's presence in the next room. Vanessa paused mid-step.

"Who's there, Bella?" he called out from the lounge. Thankfully he hadn't gotten up.

"Vanessa's come for a visit, Dad," I called back.

Charlie creaked the springs on the couch again. "Oh! Hey there Vanessa, come on in and say hi!"

Vanessa looked at me with a pleading expression for a moment. "Hey Charlie, I've just got to freshen up first, okay?"

"Okay kiddo. Take your time," he returned.

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least she'd have the opportunity to get herself together before Charlie saw her properly.

"Don't be long," I whispered. She nodded, and I walked around the corner back into the lounge. Vanessa walked along at my side, using me as cover so Charlie wouldn't see her as she passed the open lounge door.

Just as I settled myself back on to the couch, I heard the door to the bathroom upstairs close.

"What's she doing here?" Charlie asked me then, but his tone was nothing more than worry. He liked when Vanessa came to visit. I realised he'd turned the television's sound off – that was rare. He must have caught a slight glimpse of Vanessa, or at least picked up on the strain in her voice. Or maybe the horror on my own face.

"Honestly," I began, picking up my book with slightly shaking hands, "I don't know."

"Oh." He turned the sound back on. I knew he was still curious, but he also knew when I was lying – and I wasn't lying. He was patient enough to wait for Vanessa to come back down and explain herself.

I tried not to let my imagination run wild, picking up my book and attempting to get lost in the words again. I was re-reading the same sentence for the fifth time when I decided it was hopeless; I couldn't think of anything but my decrepit-looking cousin upstairs. So I closed the book in my lap and stared mindlessly at the television, allowing my mind to wander.

What on earth happened to her? She looked like she'd been living on the streets for a long time – and in the wrong company, too. How she managed to maintain control of two suitcases, however, was beyond me. I worried for half a moment that maybe she'd been assaulted, but tried not to think about it too much. That was very much a grey area to me – I knew nothing about it and knew nothing about how to deal if Vanessa had been hurt that way. If she _had_ been – ugh, I forced myself to think it – _raped_ – _then_ I would work out what to do. But I wasn't going to think about it unless I had to.

A while later the bathroom door opened again. I heard footfalls on the stairs, and then Vanessa appeared in a bathrobe – _my_ bathrobe – and a towel in one hand as she dried her long dark hair. She looked considerably better – her face was clean and make-up free, the long scratch I'd seen was almost invisible now, and without such ill fitting clothes on she looked much healthier. Most importantly, the light in her eyes was starting to flicker back to life.

"Charlie!" she bubbled as she walked toward him. She swung the towel around in one hand as she bent down and hugged him. Charlie looked a little embarrassed at being hugged by an eighteen year old in a bathrobe.

"How are you, Vanessa?" Charlie managed after sitting up a little more on the sofa cushion.

Vanessa came round beside me and sat on the arm of the couch. She leaned over and grabbed me in a warm one-armed hug before answering Charlie.

"I haven't been as good as I am right now in a long while." She smiled, and it was very genuine. I was amazed at how quickly she'd gone from drab to fab.

Charlie chuckled, missing the honest sincerity I could hear in Vanessa's words. Something had definitely happened to her.

"Well, what's the story little woman? How come you're here, unannounced, and so late at night too?" He was very curious. I couldn't blame him – so was I.

Vanessa grinned. "That's for me to know, you to find out." She laughed at Charlie's wrinkled expression – he was halfway between a grimace and a smile. "I was travelling with some friends for a while, but got sick of it because of the lack of showers – and because I was living in the back of a van. When I woke up just before I got here I discovered we were heading into Forks, and I told them I wanted out. They were alright with it, so they dropped me here, and here I am! That's why I couldn't call." She paused, and looked between Charlie and myself. "Is it alright if I stay?"

Charlie paused for half a moment, then laughed loudly. "Of course! You know you're always welcome here, Vanessa, hec – you should stay for the school year and attend with Bella!" Charlie grinned and looked over to me. I was shocked by this proposal, and it showed on my face.

Charlie instantly backtracked. "I mean, if you wanted, Vanessa – Bella's got her senior year ahead of her, after all, it might be a little stressful for the both of you…" He trailed off, afraid of my reaction. My face was still caught in the 'shocked' pose.

Vanessa, live with us?

"YES!!" I shouted, leaping from the couch. But my foot caught on something and I started to head for the carpet with my face, but Vanessa yanked me back by the shirt. I coughed and tugged my collar away from my neck. "Thanks," I said, going a little pink at the realisation of my outburst.

Vanessa chuckled. "So it's alright with you if I stay?"

I nodded crazily. "Of course!"

Charlie piped up again. "You can use the guest room, if you like, Vanessa."

"Thanks, Charlie."

Dad smiled his crinkly eyed smile.

"We'll go put Vanessa's stuff upstairs, Dad; you stay here and watch the rest of the game. Tell me who wins, okay?"

I didn't wait for the predictable reply before I tore from the room, yanking Vanessa out with me. Vanessa laughed at my enthusiasm as I grabbed the handle of one of her considerably light suitcases and started lugging it up the stairs.

When we got to the top, I headed in the direction of the 'spare room'. Vanessa lugged her other case along behind me. Then I got to a door at the end of the hall – the room opposite my own and beside the bathroom – and pushed it open, flicking the light switch as I went.

To be truthful, Charlie's 'spare room' was really a small office with a bed in the corner. I hoped Vanessa didn't mind it.

"Thanks, Bella," Vanessa said as she came up behind me with her suitcase. She swung it on to the mattress with effortless ease, but I didn't even think about attempting such a thing. I'd probably knock myself out and give Vanessa a black eye at the same time.

"No problem." I turned to her, boring into her similar brown eyes for a moment. "Do you want to tell me now, or later?"

She understood me without even trying. "Tomorrow, if that's okay? I feel pretty tired after that walk."

"Walk?"

She grinned. "It's all part of the uncensored story you're going to hear tomorrow." I grinned back at her.

"Good night then."

"Good night," she returned. I was just pulling the door closed behind me when she called for me to wait a moment.

"Yeah?"

She unwrapped the bath robe from around herself, and threw it to me. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of pyjama shorts underneath. "I hope you didn't mind that I wore that when I was downstairs? I didn't want to make Charlie uncomfortable."

"No problem. But if I may ask, how did you get pyjamas if your stuff was all packed away?"

She laughed "I'm magic!" but then said seriously, "I've learnt to keep my pyjamas on underneath my day-clothes. It's easier that way."

I bit the urge to question her further when she yawned widely. "I'd better let you get some sleep," I said instead.

"Thanks." She smiled apologetically. "See you in the morning?"

"Absolutely." I pulled the door closed behind me.

Then I headed back along the hall to the bathroom and went in, brushed my teeth and splashed my face with water. When that was done, I flicked off the light and went to the top of the stairs, and called down to Charlie. "I'm going to bed, Dad! Night!"

"Night, Bella," he called back from the lounge.

Then I retreated back along the carpeted hallway to my bedroom. I pulled my door closed behind me, my mind popping with questions I very much wanted to ask Vanessa in the morning.

* * *

**Well! That's the first chapter. Let me know what you think! This story is going to be longer than MPP, by the way. FAR more dramatic, too. Killer!**

**Chapter 1 Question:**

**What simply HAS to happen in My Returning Relative?**


	2. School

**You guys are such darlings - I can't believe how many reviews came through for the first chapter! I wish I could give every single one of you a big hug, and whichever Twilight character you desire :-)**

**On we go, to Chapter Two...**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

The next morning I woke quickly – no yawning or stretching. The memories from last night were fresh in my mind and I wanted, even more than avoiding cramps, to hear what Vanessa had to say about her current physical state.

This was why I barrelled across the hall, stubbing my toe on my door frame and accidentally knocking on Vanessa's door with my forehead.

"Are you alright, Bella?" she called out, but her voice didn't come from inside the spare room. Instead, it floated up the stairs, leading me to the assumption that she was already in the kitchen.

"I'm fine," I called back, kneading my forehead with the back of my hand.

I heard Charlie laugh from downstairs. He was in the kitchen too, apparently; and I wondered why he was still in the house at this time of the morning. He ought to be off to the station already.

Without even considering a hairbrush, I dashed as quickly as I dared down the stairs, the blood in my forehead thumping uncomfortably.

"Morning," Vanessa said as I rounded the doorway to the kitchen. She was working at the stove where something was sizzling. I smelled eggs cooking, and bacon too.

Charlie was halfway through a plate of the both of them; a half-eaten piece of toast hanging from the side of his high-piled plate. He grunted a 'morning' through a large mouthful, narrowly avoiding the lot toppling back on to his plate.

I settled myself in the chair opposite my father. "You're up early," I commented to Vanessa's back. "Are you trying to start off on the right foot or something?"

She turned to smile and I saw that she'd already hopped in to the makeup box. An inch of foundation had been fashioned to hide her bruises.

"Yeah, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, isn't that what they say?" She laughed as Charlie guffawed into his toast. "I just want you guys to know I'll do my fair share around here while I'm staying."

"They sound like the words of a woman who'll be staying more than a few days…" I ventured.

A wide smiled caused the lights in her eyes to flicker hopefully. "If you'll have me, that is." Apparently she hadn't let Charlie in on this information yet, because mid-chew he'd stopped dead, slowly swivelling his head around to peer at my cousin. I squealed with happiness and leant across the table, almost falling into Charlie's food.

"Please Dad? Please, please, please? Let her stay, c'mon, you know you'd love the company!"

I'd clasped my hands together in front of my mouth and nose like a kind of prayer. Slowly, Charlie put down his knife, fork and dangling toast. As he mopped the corners of his mouth with a tissue, the only sound in the kitchen was the infrequent popping and spitting coming from the pan behind Vanessa, whose spatula had frozen mid-flip.

Charlie cleared his throat and my muscles tensed slightly more.

_Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes, please say –_

"Okay, you can stay."

"YES!" I shouted, momentarily reminding myself of a crazy fan-girl. I knocked my chair backwards and seized Vanessa in a hug, hopping up and down on the spot and squealing a stream of happily incoherent sentences.

A moment later Vanessa detached herself from my grip and turned to Charlie while I continued to squeal and jump, squeal and jump.

"Thank you so much, Charlie," she said, leaning down to hug him. "You won't regret this, I promise, I'll be the model house-guest!"

Charlie chuckled, a little uncomfortable from the affection but all the better for it. "I know. And even if you weren't; how could I turn away family? This means you'll be attending with Bella, right?"

Vanessa's eyes returned to their beacon-like intensity upon Charlie's last sentence. "Oh, could I? Would you do that for me? _Could_ you do that for me? I would _love_ to go to school again!"

"Well I _am_ the Chief of Police around here," he returned cheerily.

I seized Vanessa's hands again and we both squealed and jumped together, much to Charlie's amusement, who shovelled down the last few bites of breakfast silently.

"I guess I'll need to give the school a call, won't I?" he said, standing and reaching for the phone.

"You're the best, Charlie!" Vanessa exclaimed joyfully.

Charlie peered at the phone and began dialling. "Don't get too excited yet, kiddo, I'll have to work some magic before you can say that again." He held the phone up to his ear and the three of us waited with bated breath.

"Who're you calling, Dad?" I asked, hoping for one particular answer.

He looked at me with the phone pressed to his ear. "The Principal."

I squealed so loudly that Vanessa thwacked me in the arm to shush me up.

_If Carlisle doesn't say yes then I think Edward will have to do some bribing on my behalf,_ I thought wickedly to myself. _Oh, please let him say she can come!_

After a few rings (it was _that_ silent – we could hear noises from the other end of the phone), Esme picked up.

"Hello, Esme Cullen speaking," she said in a voice very clear for this hour of the morning.

"Good morning Esme," Charlie greeted pleasantly. "How are you?"

"Very well, Charlie, very well. What can I help you with?"

"I was looking for Carlisle, actually, is he available?"

"Just a second, I'll have a look for you." She must've held the phone away from her face while calling Carlisle's name because her voice was fainter, but Carlisle didn't seem to answer her. She called for Edward then, who answered but I couldn't make out his words.

There was a rustling as she raised the phone back to her ear.

"He's down in his office; I'll have to go tell him to pick up because Edward's in the shower at the moment. I won't be a minute," then there was another clatter as she put the phone down.

I distracted myself by thinking about Edward in the shower while she was gone.

Charlie cleared his throat and a half a second later Carlisle's voice rang through the speaker.

"Carlisle Cullen speaking."

"Hello Carlisle, how are you?"

"I'm good thank you Charles. How can I help you this morning?"

It was clear where Edward's excellent manners had stemmed from. They may as well have been running a five star business for the formality they used.

Charlie raised his hand and started playing with the spiralling phone cord, something I knew he only did when he was thinking deeply.

"Well, I have a bit of a situation here –" I hoped Vanessa didn't take offence to being called a 'situation', but from her expression when I looked over she didn't seem to have noticed, "– my niece came to visit from a long trip and likes the town so much that she wants to stay for the school year. She's in Bella's grade … a senior, that's right."

"It is a little late for applications, Charlie," Carlisle said, but he wasn't stern enough in tone. I could tell he was trying to _let_ Charlie talk him into it.

"Well yes, I suppose it is, but it _is_ a public school … I think so," he turned to Vanessa and covered the mouthpiece with one hand. "You passed the eleventh grade?"

Vanessa nodded vigorously. "All A's and B's," she spoke shakily and I knew she was nervous as hell. So was I.

"You heard that? All A's and B's, she said. She's a good kid, barely ever gets in strife."

Carlisle laughed something through the phone but I didn't understand properly. Charlie laughed too. But then Carlisle starting speaking normally again, though his voice had dropped and he was chattering very fast so all I heard was the continuous buzz of words.

Charlie's face became grave all of a sudden. Vanessa's eyes widened in fear and my heart jumped to my throat.

"Okay. Not a problem. Yes, I'll tell her. You have a good morning, and thanks for your time." Charlie hung up the phone and straightened the long twirling cord before he looked at Vanessa and I.

A huge smiled bloomed across his face. "You're in!"

I let out a great whoosh of air and caught myself on the back of the closest chair, having realised that I'd been holding in that breath for a while.

"Charlie!" Vanessa scolded, whacking him lightly on the arm. "That was cruel!"

Charlie just laughed. "It was worth it, though. Your faces were priceless!" He pushed his chair in, the smile still lingering. "I'd better be off to work – and the two of you have got school to get to. Catch you later!"

Vanessa and I squealed and ran up the stairs, our minds occupied by the day ahead.

I had completely forgotten about Vanessa's promise to tell me the full story.

- - -

Vanessa and I arrived at school with around ten minutes to spare. I warned her to keep her parka with her wherever she went – both to shelter from the weather and as a good way of hiding herself from curious onlookers.

"I'm only one person, Bella, there has to be more interesting things around here than the new girl."

I grimaced. "Trust me on this. You will be the most interesting thing to happen to this place for the next two weeks, _at least_."

The first place we went was the front office to get her timetable and books and things. When we stepped through the doors there was already someone taking Mrs Cope's time, so we sat down on the folding lawn chairs and waited. Vanessa looked around the office with interest, so I pulled out my phone and started texting Edward, who I recalled I had forgotten to call yesterday.

'Hey gorgeous,' I wrote quickly. 'Sry I cldnt call bt my cousin came ysrtday. She's comin 2 Forks High with me! Hw wickd is tht? U can meet her asap, she's awsum. Luv u, xoxo.'

I hit 'send' and pushed my phone back in to my pocket, taking care to switch the profile to 'silent' first. Vanessa turned round then, and I could see a question on her face.

"What subjects are you taking this year, Bella?"

Damn. I hadn't wanted to think about that just yet.

"History, Biology, English, Gym and Calculus."

"Gym?" she repeated, and eyebrow raised. "You hate gym."

I rolled my eyes and scrunched up my nose before answering. By the counter, Mrs Cope's phone beeped a few times. "Gym is mandatory all four years here."

"Damn."

"My sentiments exactly." I thought for a moment. "What subject are you thinking of taking?"

"Dunno. English, obviously, and Gym, because I have to. I hate Calc and am terrible at remembering dates for History, so neither of them… erm…" She trailed off, thinking.

"What about Bio? You were fairly decent at science, as far as I remember."

"Oh yeah. Add Biology to the list. Do you guys have Chemistry here?"

"Yeah." My phone beeped so I bent down to reach it. I hit the 'open' button, and as I waited for the message to open I said to Vanessa, "Chemistry, English, Gym and Biology. Choose one more."

Vanessa sat, thinking, while I read Edward's reply.

'Morning beautiful! Ur cousin, eh? Cool. Cnt w8 2 meet her. I hv a surprise 4 u 2, bt u wil jst hav 2 wait&see. Xoxo.'

Thinking about what surprise Edward could possibly have in store, I whipped my phone out of sight just as the door next to me opened, wary that a bad-tempered teacher would happily confiscate my phone before the first bell had rung.

The way he entered was like a scene from Days of Our Lives. The perfectly timed gust of wind whirled his jacket and scarf around his body, ruffling his hair and demanding the attention of everyone in the room. The sun had also broken through the clouds outside, casting a bright aura of light around the edges of his form, making him look more like a movie star than ever.

Principal Carlisle Cullen swept in to the office, briefcase in one hand and car keys dangling in the other. Vanessa made an appreciative noise from beside me. I didn't blame her – if this was what greeted the secretaries every morning, it wasn't their faults that they had huge crushes on him.

Good thing I had Edward.

I stood up politely when he stopped just in front of Vanessa and I.

"Bella! Lovely to see you," he pushed his keys in to his pocket and smiled like Christmas lights. "And you must be Vanessa," he said, seeing her stand up beside me. He put his briefcase down and seized Vanessa's hand with both of his own, clearly thrilled by the prospect of a new student. "I'm Principal Carlisle Cullen."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

"M-morn- Good morning," she managed to sigh.

He grinned movie-star style for a moment, then released Vanessa's hand and looped his fingers around his briefcase's handle. In my peripheral I saw Vanessa caressing her fingers with an expression of admiration.

_Please don't develop a crush on my boyfriend's Dad… that's just weird…_

"I'd best let you two ladies off to do your thing, eh?" he said, probably in an attempt to be seen using young-people language. Oh well. His heart was in the right place.

"Thanks Sir. See you later," I said, trying very hard not to laugh when Vanessa's 'goodbye' was so breathy that Carlisle didn't hear her.

"Wow." She sat back down a moment later. Clearly, she'd never met a man of Carlisle's … well, someone like Carlisle. _Wait 'till she meets Edward…_

"Look," I said, yanking her back up. "The secretary is free. Time to get you a timetable."

It only took Vanessa a few waves of my hand in front of her face before she sobered up. And ten minutes later, we were five minutes late for first period but with an excellent excuse under our wing.

"What was the fifth subject you chose?" I asked as we headed for English.

She didn't lift her head from the map of the school she was studying. "Um, Art Practical," she murmured, squinting closer at the paper to see something better.

"Good choice," I said, knowing Angela and Alice would both be in her class.

As we entered the doors I had to yank Vanessa sharply to the left to stop her running in to the door frame, but she didn't need any help hanging her coat up. Head held high, she followed me in to the room, where I quietly lead her to the back where Alice, Emmett and Rosalie were all sitting together. Angela was a little further up with Ben, and Ally and Tyler were sitting together beside them.

Miss Faulkner, my English teacher for the year, was nice enough to not make a comment at our tardiness. She did look at Vanessa with interest though – as did almost everyone else in the room. The only one who didn't seem surprised was Alice, who leaned heartily over me to shake Vanessa's hand.

"Alice Brandon," she whispered. She gestured to the other two. "My brother, Emmett, and Rosalie, his girlfriend."

"Vanessa Hicken," Vanessa replied quietly. Everyone within hearing distance repeated this information to their neighbour, so the room experienced a ripple-like effect until everyone knew her name.

I rolled my eyes at the predictability of it all.

"…so I would like you all to pull out your copies of The Kite Runner please, and we'll start the day by discussing themes…"

There was a scuffle as everyone lethargically leaned over to their bags, retrieving books and pens and pads of paper. Somehow I seized mine very wrongly and everything came sprawling out with a loud FLUMP, so when Miss Faulkner said in an exasperated tone, "What now?" I thought she was addressing me.

Brandishing The Kite Runner in one hand, I straightened up with an excuse ready to fly, but was confused to see Miss Faulkner looking not at me but at the doorway. Like every other head in the room I turned and stared at the newcomer.

"EDWARD!" I shouted, ecstatic. Everyone whipped around for a moment, looking for the source of the outburst and smiling in amusement. Many of the girls looked jealously at me for knowing his name.

There he stood in the doorway, brown canvas book bag over one shoulder and hands in pockets. He had on dark pants, a blue tee-shirt and dark jacket over the top; a leather strap around his wrist which I suspected was a watch; and his hair had been tousled by the rain and wind into a style reminiscent of a delicious self-serve ice-cream with sprinkles. Yum.

He grinned at me before looking back to the teacher. "Sorry," he said, slinging his books from his shoulder and starting to head in my direction (I immediately shoved Emmett with the force of a small bulldozer to make him free up a seat for Edward). "I'm new and I got lost on my way over here."

"You're the Principal's boy, aren't you?" Miss Faulkner said, either recognising the family genetics or working with information that I'd apparently missed.

"Yes m'am." He sat down beside me. "_Surprise,"_ he whispered to me. I almost jumped him then and there – Edward+rain = _fantastic._

Miss Faulkner frowned, but in good nature. "Well, Mr Cullen –"

"It's Masen," I piped.

"Mr Masen, then," she continued, "I hope you don't expect to avoid detentions every time you're late for my class because of your 'connections'."

"I'd expect nothing of the sort, Miss Faulkner." Edward was perfectly mature and polite – Miss Faulkner's composure slipped when Edward used her name without being told what it was first.

"Very well," and she went back to her Kite Runner lecture.

"_You're here!"_ I exclaimed as loudly as I could in whispers.

Edward beamed, his eyes locked on me. When he found my hand under the table and laced his fingers between mine, I felt my bones melt.

"Yes, Carlisle suggested the move."

My smile was almost painful. "But, your grades, your friends – what about Jared? Leah? What about everyone else?"

"…Okay class, I'll hand out your assignment sheets now so don't be too noisy…"

As expected, everyone erupted with chatter. Judging by the looks and stares being focused at the back of the room, most people were discussing the two newest additions to the school.

Edward, however, was entirely focused on me.

"We're all good enough friends that we'll see each other, and I'm not worried that they'll desert me for changing schools. I still live in Port Angeles, after all." He looked carefully at me, ducking slightly to look between my eyes. "Are you okay with this? Me, coming here, I mean."

I raised my free hand to touch his feathery cheek. "That is the silliest thing you've ever asked. Of _course_ I want you here. This is fantastic!"

He chuckled as Miss Faulkner passed, handing both of us the assignment sheet. Something bumped my elbow and I looked around.

"Vanessa!" I cried, and she whirled around to see what I was shouting about. "Oh! Edward," I leaned back in my seat so they could see each other. "This is Vanessa, my cousin. Vanessa, this is Edward, my boyfriend."

"Lovely to meet you," Edward said, offering his hand. (I almost melted at his gentlemanliness.) Vanessa shook it.

"You too." She turned to me, ducking subtly out of Edward's line of sight. "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend," she said under her breath in a mock-sexy tone. She then made a suggestive sound like bedsprings squeaking and raised her eyebrows.

My face went from pale to crimson so fast I was sure I could've passed for a fairy-light.

"Very funny," I hissed, trying to sound annoyed but failing. She just looked too mischievous.

I turned back to Edward, trying to regain composure. He, however, knew that Vanessa had said something suggestive just by looking at the blush slowly reddening my ears. His eyebrows raised but he smartly said nothing.

"So, this assignment," I changed the subject with a clear of the throat. "Looks ah, interesting…"

Vanessa started laughing silently beside me. "Subtle," she coughed.

I glared side-on. "Shush, you."

Edward, who still had my hand under the table, started dotting lines with his thumb along the ticklish spot on my palm. I bit my lip to keep from smiling but it didn't work.

"That's better," he said when I started giggling, and tried half-heartedly to pull my hand from his grip. "I missed your smile."

"Awww! How did I ever deserve you?" I squeaked, my throat constricted from smiling so widely.

He just leaned over and kissed me on the apple of my cheek.

_Who's the luckiest? I'm the luckiest. Ever._

* * *

**Well! That's it for chapter two... what do you think? Are things going well?**

**Chapter 2 Question:**

**What happened in the last dream you remember having?**


	3. Please Explain

**Hello again to all you beautiful people out there! I can't believe the number of reviews this little ol'd sequel has received already - there are over sixty (last time I checked) for just two chapters! That's insane! I can't thank you enough... but I'll do my best by making the story worth reading :-)**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

It wasn't until morning break that I remembered Vanessa's promise. My mind had been completely saturated with Edward up until we walked in to the cafeteria and he was immediately swarmed by the rest of our friends – actually, _all_ of our friends. Unbeknown to me, Alice had in English been listing all the questions she wanted to ask Edward as soon as possible, but as second lesson was for both Edward and I a newly acquired study period, I was able to bombard him with my personal … enthusiasm … without any interruptions.

I love study lessons.

So anyway, as soon as Edward was occupied with Alice's two feet-long list of queries, I yanked Vanessa in to the nearest bathroom by her elbow. Fortunately neither of us received any injuries from the rough gesture.

"So," I said after checking that the room was clear of eavesdroppers. I leant back on the row of sinks with my arms crossed. Vanessa looked politely interested. "Are you going to tell me what happened to you?" I gestured to my own face so she understood what I meant.

She folded her arms, but much different to how I had done it. Mine were folded across my chest, a teacherish kind of pose. Hers were folded over her stomach like she was trying to hold herself together. It worried me.

"What do you mean?" she asked. I knew she was stalling, so I stayed silent and raised a brow. "Oh, right," she caved almost immediately. "Well, my friends and I _did_ go on a road trip, like I told Charlie. And the lack of showers and living arrangements weren't really to my tastes, either."

"Yes, I got that much, so what's the rest?"

She took a couple of steps back until she was leaning against the divider between two toilet doors. "I was with my boyfriend too. He likes to drink and smoke…not cigarettes, mind you. I agreed to try it, but in the beginning I didn't realise how much I was taking. When I passed out the first time, I woke up to Roy holding me. He was so worried, Bella, he said I shouldn't do it again because I couldn't handle it, but I said I wanted to do it. I didn't want to look weak. Then, the second time I passed out, when I came to I had bruises. I asked Roy but he said he didn't know, that I must've fallen or something.

"So I kept smoking with him and our friends, and every time I woke up the bruises got worse. One of my friends, Kirry, she took too much. She had to be hospitalised. I told Roy I wanted out so he dropped me off in Port Angeles."

"You walked to Forks from Port Angeles?!"

She smiled in a way that let me know that my assumption was wrong. "I hitchhiked. But it was dark and there weren't many cars. I freighter picked me up and dropped me by the highway exit because he couldn't drive on the suburban roads with such a heavy load. I told him thanks anyway, and walked for nearly two hours."

"Hang on," I said, finding a hole in her story. "You arrived at around six at night. That's not that late."

A grimace twisted her expression. "I couldn't find Charlie's in the dark so I slept in a bus stop. When I woke up it was just coming on dark but I thought I knew my way, so I wandered around until I spotted the cruiser."

I nodded, the picture in my mind unpleasant but believable. "Thank you for telling me."

"What kind of a cousin would I be if I didn't tell you? You're like a sister to me," she said, jumping forward and catching me in a headlock.

"Argh!" I mumbled through the sleeve of her shirt, which was pressed against my mouth. "Gerrof!"

She laughed and let me go. "Time to save Edward, I think," she pushed open the door and pointed at my boyfriend, who was now surrounded by besotted and giggly juniors and sophomores.

I rolled my eyes and stomped out into the cafeteria. I elbowed my way through the glittery headbands and swinging ponytails until I heard Edward's confused voice somewhere to my left. I listened with amusement as I clawed the air, trying to snatch something to drag him away by.

"…Model? What?...no, I live in Port Angeles…uhh, yeah, you look nice in that colour…ouch, that was my arm! Who's –? Ahh!"

His last exclamation was my doing, as I'd gotten a stronghold on his hand and tugged him out of the throng with such ferocity that I was surprised to see his arm still attached to his body.

"Nice to see you making friends with people," I shot sarcastically while dragging him toward Emmett, who I could easily see over people's heads.

"I didn't –!"

"Relax, I'm just teasing!" I laughed over my shoulder and winked cheekily. Edward rolled his eyes and I guessed that he was trying to be mad, but there was a smile playing about.

I sat down next to Alice, and Edward sat on my other side. In a very dramatic gesture he put an arm around my waist and kissed me on the cheek. I turned to him for an explanation, but didn't need one once I saw the looks on his admirer's faces. There was a mixture of admiration and murderous jealousy there. But at least now they knew how very _unavailable_ he was.

_Damn straight,_ I thought smugly.

Vanessa had sat down opposite me and was picking apart a bagel she'd acquired from somewhere. She looked a bit upset, but just as I opened my mouth to ask, a voice I knew far too well interrupted.

"Hey there pretty girl, what might your name be?" Mike slid in to the place beside my cousin and I almost fell off the chair with revulsion. Edward caught me and glared something incredible at Mike.

Vanessa looked up, too surprised to say anything, but she needn't have done anyway. Edward and Emmett jumped in like greyhounds on a fluffy rabbit toy.

"Hey Mike," Emmett started.

"How are you, _Newton?_" Edward added.

"Your nose feeling better?"

"How about your leg? How'd that heal?"

I spluttered into the lemonade I'd pilfered from Alice, half shock and half laughter. I elbowed Edward to calm him down.

Realisation crossed Vanessa's face. I'd told her about what had happened last year at Jasper's disastrous Masquerade Ball – and even though I'd skimped on the gory details, she still hated him with something close to loathing.

It was nothing compared to how I felt.

"You're Mike Newton, right?" Vanessa asked him. To anyone else she was spearing to be polite – but to someone like me, someone who knew her better than that, I knew she was just clarifying that her victim was deserving before unleashing the inner bitch.

"I sure am," he purred. I shuddered – how did I _ever_ like him?

"Well, Mike," she said, leaning a little closer to him, "Why don't you turn right on around and take a very long walk off a very short pier?"

A shocked silence prevailed for a whole second before Vanessa gave Mike a hearty shove in the chest and he fell to the floor with a loud _flump_.

I cracked up laughing, holding Edward for support, who wasn't in much better shape than me in any case. Alice was sliding down her seat with cackles and Emmett thumped the table so hard with his fist that everything on it jumped a foot in the air.

Mike, furious and embarrassed at the same time, scrambled to his feet and tried to maintain some dignity while walking away. The fact that he'd fallen straight on to tomato sauce and now had a huge splotch on the back of his pants threw us in to hysterics. I wrapped my hands around my ribs in an effort to keep them from splitting.

_Sucker._

"Way to go Vanessa," Emmett complimented, reaching around Rosalie to give Vanessa a well earned hi-five.

I just clapped valiantly. Alice was still erupting in giggles every few seconds.

Vanessa kept picking through her bagel, though she had a distinct smile on her face now. I concentrated on my lemonade, but that was interrupted again by the second guest of the day.

"Hey Jake!" I said cheerily as he walked over.

He stopped at the end of the table. "Hey guys." He smiled around at us all, spotting Vanessa.

Apparently she approved because she waved to the empty place beside her. "Sit with us," she offered.

He sat down. "Jacob Black," he said, indicating to himself. "And you are?"

"Vanessa Hicken," she returned.

He grinned. "Vanessa…hmm…"

"What?" she asked, clearly wondering about his deep-in-thought face.

Jasper leaned forward a bit, speaking for the first time. "He likes to give nicknames to everyone."

"He does?" I turned to him, never recalling a time when he'd given me a nickname. I supposed 'Bella' was already enough of a nickname.

"Yeah," Jasper went on, "he thought up the very original title of 'The Three J's' and, mean as it was, helped me think of Alice's old nickname."

Alice, who was very capable of taking a joke, jabbed him in the ribs. "I guess I owe Jake a few bruises then, don't I?"

Jacob, who wasn't listening, suddenly shouted "Ah hah!"

"Did you just get jabbed in the butt or something, dude?" Emmett joked.

Jacob ignored him. "I got it. Your nickname," he turned to Vanessa again, "is Nessie!"

Her face was perfectly blank. She blinked. "Nessie?" she repeated, and I detected a cutting edge to her tone. "Like the Loch Ness Monster?"

"Uh, no no no," Jake backtracked quickly, "I meant just that it- well, there's a 'ness' in your name and- err, I didn't mean it like an insult…sorry?"

_Duck and cover! Shield your eyes! Look away or she'll turn you to stone! Run, run, run!_

Try as I might, my telepathic warnings were lost on that boy. He stayed in his seat while Vanessa burned holes through his head with her eyes.

"_I do not appreciate being nicknamed after a slimy sea monster."_

I could almost smell his searing flesh from here.

Jake raised his eyebrows. How was he not cowering under that look?

"Well, technically the Loch Ness is a lake, actually."

I was scared to intervene. It was like watching two bears fight over a carcass – you were too terrified to move for fear of having their attention focus on you.

"How do _you_ know?" Vanessa snapped.

"I read."

"Oh, so you can read, can you?"

"I'd bet I can read better than you."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you look like you just crawled off the streets where you were working as a hooker, _Vanessa._ You should get those bruises checked." He reached up to touch one of her almost-concealed marks and she viciously slapped his hand away.

"Asshole."

"Whore."

"Get out of here before I do something I regret, _Jacob._"

"I'm sure there's plenty you've done in your little life that you regret."

And with that Jacob got up and swept from the room. Avoiding Vanessa's eye, I watched him until he had vanished completely. Everyone at the table was silent. Silent enough that I heard Vanessa's barely restrained sob of fury. Like me, she cried when she was angry.

"Vanessa," I started, but she got up and flew from the room so fast it was like she'd simply evaporated.

I made to follow her, but Edward stopped me. "She needs to be alone," he said quietly. Edward was very good at reading people so I didn't dispute him. Besides, I would have no idea what to say if I _did_ find her.

But I _did_ need to talk to Jacob at some point. _What the hell was that?_

* * *

**Okay! There it is, chapter three! I hope you liked it, even though it was a little shorter than the last. But hey, it's about quality, not quantity, right?**

**This chapter I'll be asking you something a little more philosophical than usual.**

**Chapter 3 Question:**

**If we, as humans, weren't taught that love is a vital part of life and living, do you think we would still search anyway?**


	4. The Split

**My lovely readers!! I'm so sorry I've not updated in like a week - but I went away to the beach for five days!! It was grand. I got a little sunburnt but not too badly. :-D**

**Anyway. I was very pleased with all your replies on my previous question - it seems that love is a universal craving that we'll want no matter what we're taught. Such smarties you are!! -pinches cheek and goes 'awww!'-**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

Jacob got up and swept from the room. Avoiding Vanessa's eye, I watched him until he had vanished completely. Everyone at the table was silent. Silent enough that I heard Vanessa's barely restrained sob of fury. Like me, she cried when she was angry.

"Vanessa," I started, but she got up and flew from the room so fast it was like she'd simply evaporated.

I made to follow her, but Edward stopped me. "She needs to be alone," he said quietly. Edward was very good at reading people so I didn't dispute him. Besides, I would have no idea what to say if I _did_ find her.

But I _did_ need to talk to Jacob at some point. _What the hell was that?_

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After morning break I had double history with Jasper and Emmett. It was great, really, because the two of them amused themselves by rolling coins noisily across the table and then snatched them out of sight when our Coke-bottle glasses teacher, Mrs McCracken, squinted to the back of the room for the source of the noise. Normally I would have guffawed behind one hand while the two of them sat up like perfectly innocent pupils, but today I was too distracted to notice.

And since the boys were distracted in an entirely different way, I was free to think about what the hell had gone down at morning break.

Jacob barely ever used such deliberately harmful words at someone – I hadn't yet beared witness to his treatment of Mike Newton, and in that case I could make an exception – but to jump down Vanessa's throat when she's completely new to the whole Forks scene? Weird. Very weird.

And Vanessa's reaction, too, to Jake's harmless nickname for her. He was just trying to be friendly… though I can understand the way she put her back up. 'Nessie'? Honestly, why on earth would you nickname someone after a sea monster or a lake monster or whatever? That's just asking for it.

It was one situation that I didn't really want to deal with, especially when it almost certainly meant I would have to choose a side.

Then, something came out of nowhere and jabbed me in the shoulder. Not painfully, but enough to send me flying into the empty seat beside me.

"Emmett!" I heard Jasper scold, followed by a hearty thwack of palm-hitting-back-of-head. "Good one, fool."

I looked around and saw Emmett leaning over, reaching to help me up. "Sorry, shortie," he apologised. "But I _did_ say 'think quick'!"

"You know I wasn't paying any attention. Shouldn't Mrs McCracken be yelling at you or something?" I straightened up and looked around the classroom. Everyone was gathering their books and standing up to leave but from a look at the clock, we still had ten minutes of lesson left. Our senile History teacher was no where to be seen.

Jasper laughed. "Emmett convinced her that she'd parked her car on a dog. I was contributing the sound effects."

My jaw dropped. "Emmett! You're terrible! How do you even think– hang on, isn't that from a movie or something?"

Emmett stood up, almost knocking his chair backwards, and grinned his dimple-grin. "Big Fat Liar is the source of many of my personal genius moments."

"Dude, that makes no sense."

"Shut it Whitlock, or I'll get my sister on your arse."

Jasper laughed and mumbled something which sounded like, "Too late."

I concentrated very hard to ignore the mental image.

The three of us wandered around the halls for a little while until the rest of the students began flowing from classrooms. I waved to them as they climbed a staircase – Emmett had some technology class or something and Jasper had Gym next – glancing down at my own timetable as I went. I stopped dead when I saw what my next class was; causing a minor traffic-jam behind me, where I heard the sounds of books dropping as people unexpectedly ran in to each other.

I gulped thickly and forced myself to walk. _Gym_.

_God, _I prayed silently, _if you're there; please don't let Edward be in my class. I will do anything you want, just please grant me this one wish!! I think I'll deliberately break my leg if Edward is in my class. Do you want me to break my leg? Do you?!_

I'd spent so much time dawdling and procrastinating that when I finally reached the heavy doors of the gymnasium, the last stragglers were just rushing off to their lessons, heads bowed as they crossed the windy and drizzling courtyards. I gulped again and went inside, hoping my luck might appear for once and allow me the relative safety of the class having not yet started.

I was fortunate in that right.

Kids were milling around the place, chasing one another, laughing, talking, squealing as holiday stories and rumours were exchanged, still chasing one another and keeping an eye out for Coach Clapp should he choose to arrive right while they were about to go for a gorilla-swing from the basketball ring.

_Hey, that rhymes; I should do poetry for my next English assignment…_

I spotted Alice and Jasper amongst the crowd, so I pulled the shoulder of my bag tighter against my body and made a beeline for them. It wasn't until I was standing right beside Alice that I noticed the other person who was in my class.

"Vanessa!" I exclaimed, overjoyed that she was going to be able to partner me for the year. "You're here! This is fantastic!"

She grinned. "It is, eh? I'm glad you're here, we can go together for drills and stuff."

"My thoughts exactly."

I turned to Alice and Jasper, who were tickling each other with the tips of their noses. I rolled my eyes and lightly whacked the sleeve of Alice's marshmallow jacket with the back of my hand. "Alice," I said, vying for her attention. "What class does Edward have now?"

She was too busy giggling, so Jasper answered for her. "He has Music now."

I exhaled heavily, relief unknotting the anxiety in my muscles. _Thank God he's in the Gym 2 class, and I'm in Gym 1. _"That's on the other side of the school," I said, mostly to myself. "No chance of him seeing me in here!"

Vanessa started laughing, understanding my reaction. "Damn, 'cos that would have been funny as hell!"

Coach Clapp appeared then, whacking his palms to attract attention, so I listened half-heartedly.

_Okay God, I owe you one._

Fabulously, as today was only a single lesson and none of us had yet acquired our uniforms, there was no practical. The Coach took his time calling the role, pausing for a second over Vanessa' name. He didn't comment though, thankfully, because Vanessa had also inherited some of the clumsiness that plagued me. She, however, was a lot better off than I was. I blamed it on Charlie's side of the family – Grandma Marie had had a brother, Stanley, who then had a daughter, Abigail. Aunt Abbey was Vanessa's mom. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened to her, but Aunt Abbey wasn't around any more. Vanessa had almost raised herself because her Dad had to work twenty-four seven to pay the bills. I admired Vanessa for that.

Anyway, that's beside the point. Vanessa could still walk in a straight line from one end of a basketball court to another and get there injury-free. Meanwhile I would be trailing behind her, probably nursing a sprained ankle or something.

Coach Clapp's lecture consisted of outlining the assignments and exams for the year; what percentage our practical work and theoretical work were; blah blah blah...

A few times I had been about to ask Vanessa about the episode at morning break, but each time something stuck in my throat. It must have been intuition's intervention because whenever I was about to speak, the Coach would pause to take a breath, so my whispered question would have been loudly broadcasted to everyone in the class. Vanessa probably wouldn't have appreciated that. Besides, she was living with me now so there was ample opportunity to ambush and question her once we were back at Charlie's place.

The lesson passed easily, then we were all heading to the cafeteria for lunch. Jasper and Alice were holding hands on my left, Jasper humming the tune to 'Armour hotdogs' under his breath, and on my other side Vanessa was walking with her head down, texting on my phone. She'd borrowed it to talk to her dad without actually _talking_.

We headed to our usual table where Edward, Rosalie and Emmett were already sitting. They each had some lunchables in front of them, though Edward had more than usual.

I slid in beside him.

"You heading for a career as a sumo?" I joked, stealing a handful of grapes.

He kissed my temple in welcome. "You wish." He slid the tray away from himself and around in front of me, but kept going. "Want some?" he asked Vanessa, who was just shutting my phone.

She looked surprised, to say the least. "Uh, thanks," she picked up a chocolate muffin.

I cast a question at Edward, but he shrugged. "I'm the new kid too, remember?"

I laughed at that. "Oh yes, and how are your fans taking the news that you're unavailable?"

"They're plotting, trust me."

"Huh? How can you tell?"

He laced his arm around my waist and pulled me almost on top of him. I didn't mind.

"I dunno. They're pretty obvious about it, dropping things when I go past and such."

I pulled back a little to see his face better. "And do you pick them up for them?"

"Usually."

I leaned back in to his side. "Always the gentlemen."

"You love me for it."

"Of course."

Carefully, I yanked some more grapes from the tray and popped them in my mouth. Across from us, Rosalie and Emmett were sucking face like it was oxygen or something.

"Ugh, guys," I threw a grape at them, but it bounced off Emmett's head without his noticing, "People have to eat in here you know!"

Rosalie extracted her hand and waved me off without looking. Alice started giggling furiously, which set Jasper off. Edward grinned too but contented himself with pegging nuts across the room at Mike, who was stiff-shouldered and ignoring the food-shower. Mike was sitting with Angela and Ben, Ally and Tyler, and seemed to be very uncomfortable with the arrangement. He was the only single one at the table, at which I chuckled evilly on the inside. Angela looked over, so I waved, and she waved back with a bright and breezy smile.

Following that my thoughts wandered, and I remembered something about homework being mentioned in Gym. As Alice and Jasper were talking exclusively together, I looked round to ask Vanessa. But she was gone.

I scanned the cafeteria room, but her curly-haired head was nowhere to be found. Assuming she'd just gone to the bathroom, I shrugged and settled back under Edward's arm to finish my grapes.

It wasn't until the end of lunch when the first warning bell went that I saw where she'd relocated herself. Across the room, on the other side of the beefy football team who acted like a visibility shield for them, sat the group of my not-so-favourite people. Jessica, Victoria, Tanya and Lauren were cackling about something. Jacob and James were there too, Jacob sitting on the extreme edge of one bench, casting wary glances diagonally across the table every few seconds; because there, talking with Jessica (the nicest of the lot) was my very own cousin.

I opened my mouth to say something but Edward cut me off.

"I think sitting with us makes her uncomfortable." He stood up, gently pulling me with him.

"Why?"

"Because we're all paired off."

"Oh." I looked over at Vanessa again. She was smiling, honestly happy for the first time that day. It felt like longer since I'd seen such a carefree smile grace her features. A little twang reverberated in my heart; why didn't she smile like that around me? Did I do something to make her _un_happy?

Everyone glided off toward the exit so I slipped a look at my timetable again. For the second time that day, I stopped dead in a crowded place and someone ran in to me. Only this time it was Edward, so he didn't swear, he just pulled me safely to the side out of people's way. He ducked down to my eye level to see if anything was wrong. I looked up at him.

"I have Biology now."

He didn't understand what the problem was. "So…?"

"I uh, I have that class with uh…" I breathed in slowly, and out slowly, avoiding the panic. "I have Biology with Mike, Edward. Mr Banner always makes us sit by our old lab partners. _Mike was my lab partner last year!_"

Edward blanched. "I'm not doing Biology this year. I did it accelerated last year in Port Angeles. _Damn it!_"

"I can't sit next to him, Edward. I can't do it. He, he- No. I won't."

Edward looked completely helpless, which didn't help my situation at all. When _he_ was lost for words then it really must be a horrid situation.

Vanessa's curly hair appeared then, so I reached out and tapped her arm as she passed. Jessica and Lauren and Victoria were all walking with her. She turned, a huge smile on her face, but it dropped as soon as she focused on Edward and I (and our death-bed expressions).

"I'll talk to you later, guys," she called over her shoulder as the other three girls were carried away by the crowd. "What on earth is wrong?" she asked, looking very concerned.

"I have Biology now, and Mr Banner is going to make me sit with _It,_" I breathed, digging my nails in to Edward's arm to hold myself up.

Oddly, her expression was jubilant. She giggled.

"_This is _not_ funny!"_ I scolded her.

She put a hand on my shoulder, patted me a couple of times, then steered me back in to the crowd. Edward jogged loyally along at my side.

"Bella, Bella, don't worry! Just… chill. Relax. Chillax!" She stopped at her locker and whipped her bag out, seizing a familiar looking text-book. "I'm in your class."

I felt the tightness in my throat instantly let go, and beside me Edward exhaled something chronic. I wondered how long he'd been holding that breath for. Vanessa was momentarily unbalanced as I flung myself upon her, hugging her so tightly around the middle I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd cracked a rib.

"I love you, I love you, I love you! Banner _has_ to let you sit by me. Oh my God I love you!"

Vanessa laughed and ruffled my hair as I pulled away. I was a couple of inches shorter than her.

"No problem Bee, but we need to move," she gestured to the hallway, which was fast emptying. "Time to get an education!" She made to tug me along, but I wanted to speak quickly to Edward.

"Two minutes?" I asked with a hopeful grimace.

She rolled her eyes. _Hehe, it's definitely catching, that habit of mine!_ "Fine. Where's the classroom?"

"Down the end of the hall, on the left. Number thirty-eight, I think."

"'Kay. Don't be long." She grinned and walked away.

I turned to Edward. "What do you have now?"

"Chemistry with Rosalie and Jasper."

"So you won't be far away if I _do _have to sit with _him?_"

He smiled, making my heart melt. My Mike problem seemed very distant and unimportant for a moment. "Just text me and I'll rescue you." He put his hands over my own, which were clutching his shirt.

I let go, feeling embarrassed that I was overreacting like this. As usual, Edward read me like a book.

"You're not overreacting. He tried to hurt you. I would be worried if you _weren't_ apprehensive, Bella."

I looked up at him, caught in his glimmering eyes. "I would be fine if you were in there too. But, like the nerd that you are, you just _had_ to have already done the course."

I was jibing him and he knew it, so he just leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Message something obvious if you need me. Like, '911'. And I will come to help even if you're not in class," he winked suggestively and elbowed me lightly in the ribs.

It worked. I smiled widely. "Sicko." I hoisted up my bag and started walking down the hall. "Have fun in Chemistry!" I called over my shoulder.

He chuckled under his breath from behind me. "I'll blow something up just for you!"

"You'd better!"

When I rounded the corner to the classroom I was pleasantly surprised for several reasons. First, that Mr Banner hadn't arrived yet, so I wasn't going to be drilled for being late for the first lesson of the year. Second, that Angela was sitting by Ben – and she hadn't been sitting by him last year, so I didn't feel obliged to sit by Mike, who was on the other side of the room. I avoided his eye. And third, that Vanessa was sitting beside an open seat, her bag taking up the chair to stop any hustlers from moving in, and she'd chosen a seat a couple of rows in front of Newton and on the opposite side of the room. _Excellent._

I walked to my cousin, putting her bag up on the bench as I sat. "Thanks so much for sitting by me," I said, giving her a one-armed hug around the shoulders.

She grinned. "No worries. Thank _you_ for listening to my stupid questions all day! And for giving me a ride to school, letting me live with you, being a friend, lending me your phone, feeding me…"

I laughed. "Okay, okay, point taken. I'm clearly awesome and you're clearly a bogan."

She laughed and thwacked my arm playfully. "Fool."

"You know it!"

Suddenly, everyone was in a scramble to get to their seats and be quiet. There was only one reason for that – the teacher had entered the room. Stretching to see around Jessica's dark curls in front of me, I caught a glimpse of my teacher just as he started speaking.

"Welcome back, seniors! Good to see all of you sitting so quietly! Very pleasing, very pleasing indeed… right. I should point out that the seats in which you're sitting are the ones you will stay in for the duration of the year, so do me a favour and swap chairs after the lesson rather than now. I'll call the role now… pipe down over there, Mister Cheney-" (Tyler winked cheekily at Banner, who raised a withered eyebrow in response) "-Arkins, Harriet?"

That was how it went until everyone's names had been called. Mr Banner then went through the year's workload and assignments and tests and stuff, which wasn't interesting. In fact, the whole hour was quite dull.

The only interesting thing worth mentioning that happened in the first class of senior Biology was that almost every male in the room (unavailable or otherwise) seemed to be staring at Vanessa – the shiny new toy in a room of finger-painting aged youngsters.

_I hope the attention doesn't go to her head. _

* * *

**Well!! What do we think? What's going to happen, did you like the chapter, where's it all leading to...?**

**Chapter 4 Question: **

**Have you ever had a supernatural experience? (Seen a ghost, almost died, out of body experience... anything out of the ordinary.)**


	5. Meet the Charlie

**Hey! Merry Christmas to everyone! Thank you, as always, for your kind reviews. You guys really are the driving force for this story :-D I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

Perhaps Tuesdays are the days which involve stupid decisions? I probably met Mike on a Tuesday, Jasper probably first threw sand at Alice in preschool on a Tuesday, and I'll bet that my parents got married on a Tuesday. Though, I have to thank them for that – if there hadn't been a marriage there probably wouldn't have been a Bella – and I wouldn't have had the complete pleasure in life that is Edward Masen. Sigh. I wonder if I was born on a Tuesday?

Today is Tuesday. The stupidest day of my life, as far as I'm concerned – because today at lunch I made the ridiculous decision of inviting Edward around to my house to meet my father. Officially. For the first time. Ever. What the _fruit_ did I get myself in to?!

"Relax, Bella, he's not even home yet."

Ah yes, the reassuring voice in my ear calms me down – it might just be my conscious speaking to me, because that's how it just is sometimes with Edward. I swear he can read minds – though he sucked at guessing my motives for life when we first met. Now, however, he's learned that less is more with me and you'll be able to tell what I'm thinking just by looking at my oh-so-obvious expressions. Darn Renee and her genetics.

I looked up at Edward, a very stand-outish spot of beauty in my home. We were in the entrance hall (small as the thing was), coats hanging on pegs beside us and chateau Swan spread out around it. I'd only just let Edward inside the house and already I was sweating like I was about to walk up a podium to do a cartwheel in front of the whole school.

Vaguely, memories of the last time a boyfriend entered these walls with the intent of 'officially' meeting my father prodded the back of my mind but I seized a shovel from the garden shed in my head and beat those little buggers into the ground 'till they stopped wiggling.

Suckers.

Upstairs, I knew Vanessa was running around, still new enough to the home to find interesting such insignificant things as bathroom tiles which I'd scribbled on when I was five. She would soon learn the insufferable boredom of Forks – then she'd be in my boat. And what an un-rocky boat it is.

"I _am_ relaxed," I said, turning to Edward. "Currently, I'm waiting for the pre-hysteria to hit so I can be prepared for Charlie's reaction."

Edward raised a brow. "Does he not know we're dating?"

"Of course he does. Silly boy."

"Good. 'Cos he would have thought it weird that I called you so much if he _didn't_ know we were dating."

The little ribbons of muscle in my torso all braided and danced with happiness at hearing Edward say the unbelievable – that we were _dating_. It was fantastic to hear the words all put together… and even better that Edward himself would say it. With a smile, no less.

Upstairs, Vanessa cracked up laughing over something, but she quietened herself down pretty quick. I was about to shout up the stairs to ask what was so funny, but Edward interrupted before I could take a breath for it.

"Everything will be fine. Trust me; he's not going to break down the door brandishing a gun or anything. And if he does – well, I'm a fast runner." He winked and grinned. I tried to screw up my nose to stop myself from smiling at his lamentable humour but I could help myself. Edward started tickling me to help the smile prevail.

"Stop, stop!" I breathed, already weak-kneed from his light touch. "Quit it you big bully! Ahh! No, no- Charlie!" I squealed and giggled a long stream of giggles when he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I kept trying to tell him to put me down because Charlie was bound to walk in at the wrong moment, but every time I took a breath it just came out as laughter.

I was saved when Vanessa came down the stairs.

"Put the girl down, Edward, you don't have a receipt if she breaks or something," she said, leaning against the banister.

Edward dropped my feet to the ground but kept his arm wrapped backwards around my waist, so that if he straightened up I'd spin upside-down. I whacked feebly at his hands – but he was still tickling me.

"Even if she does break –" he flipped me upside down, my hair stretching to the ground, "– I'll never return her. Ever." He swung me around and somehow I landed, bridal-style, in his arms. "She's all mine, broken or otherwise."

I stared up in to his green eyes, my heart oozing mushy feelings in to my veins and making my muscles drop with googliness. _I'm such a girl sometimes…_

He brushed his nose to mine, but before I could pull him down for a kiss, two things happened.

The first was that Vanessa gagged and turned away – not surprising – but the second was that Edward abruptly dropped my flat on my arse at his feet. I was too surprised to laugh nor protest. Edward then jumped a foot away from me and stood still, trying not to look guilty.

The door opened behind me and Charlie wandered in, halfway through an "I'm home girls!" greeting when he stopped dead, hands removing his gun-belt, and stared at Edward.

I took the distraction as an opportunity to get up without notice.

"Who're you?" Charlie asked, hand inching closer to gun.

"Dad!" I nearly shouted, diverting his attention away from my soon-to-be-roadkill boyfriend, "This is Edward. I invited him to meet you," I reached forward and pushed his hand away from his gun, then whipped the belt away and hung it up as an excuse for something to do.

Vanessa cleared her throat, disguising a laugh. When I looked back at Edward and Charlie, they appeared to be having a visual-standoff.

"I'm Edward Masen, Chief Swan; it's a pleasure to meet you at last." He held out his hand.

Charlie eyed the offering before shaking. "Call me Charlie."

_Yes! He likes him!_

"Charlie," Edward repeated, releasing a breath that'd been making his shoulders very tight.

Vanessa looked away, still disguising that same amusement. _What the Hale?_ (Today at school, Edward discovered Rosalie and Jasper's mother's maiden name and had successfully gotten the entire group using his new replacement-swear. I couldn't believe how quickly he could make an impression on people – it was kinda sad, really.) (Especially in my case.)

"Come on in, have something to eat," Charlie said, offering Edward passage to the kitchen.

Edward grinned like he'd won a rally and obliged. Charlie followed him, then Vanessa (who was still grinning like an idiot), then myself. I remained standing while Charlie dug up a plate and some biscuits.

Normally, I would have done it myself, but I could tell that Edward needed to see Charlie making an effort in order for the undertones of their 'friendship' to appear.

"So," my Dad said once he was seated. Edward was across from him, and Vanessa was on one end of the table. "How are you liking Forks High?"

"It's great," Edward chewed through a biscuit. "A little cold, but I don't mind that; the people are friendly and the teachers remembered my name pretty fast too."

"They'd have to Edward, you _are_ the Principal's boy," I interjected.

Edward grinned. "True."

"Speaking of which, I'd like to meet your folks sometime soon too. Would that be possible?"

Annoyingly, Edward was totally at ease. It was fun to sometimes see him uncomfortable, because it seldom occurred at all. "Sure thing, Charlie."

My father smiled at me before continuing. "Bella wants to get in to law," he said proudly, "after school. She's doing all the right subjects for it. What are your plans following graduation?"

"I'm most interested in neuroscience. The human brain is fascinating to me – I think that's because of the books Carlisle let me read when I stayed with them as a kid. I already did Bio last year as an academic advancement –"

"Showoff," I muttered.

"– so this year my five subjects are English, Chemistry, Gym, Music and Physics."

"No maths?"

"Did that last year, too," he seemed slightly embarrassed; a rarity. Usually he would happily boast of his smarts – not in an asshole-ish way, but still, Edward being sheepish wasn't a common thing. He must really want Charlie to like him.

"Smart boy you've got here, Bella," Charlie nodded his head. In Charlie's language, that was an outright approval if I ever saw one.

_Yes!_

"Speaking of which – we should go upstairs and study for that English paper that's due next week –" I motioned toward the door, but Vanessa cut me off. She was still wearing that damn grin!

"So you're pretty good at Biology, Edward?" she asked, leaning across the table in mock interest. Instantly, my suspicion bells started dinging.

"Uh, I guess so," he answered her, confused.

"So you'd be good at the practical as well as theoretical?"

"Yeah…?"

"I thought so."

"Say _what_? Vanessa, you've totally lost me."

Charlie watched the exchange like a tennis match. I think I was, too.

"Bella's pretty good at losing things," Vanessa said, and I blanched. A small flash of holographic colour appeared between her fingers – but she had her hands out of sight of everyone else so I was the only one screaming and running in circles (in spirit, at least). On the outside, however, I was completely still. Petrified.

_I am going to kill Vanessa and then I am going to kill Alice._

"Hey Charlie, didn't you leave your, uh, jacket in the cruiser?"

"Huh? I'm wearing it," he said, pulling at the collar of his jacket. I wiped some building sweat from my brow. Vanessa grinned evilly.

"What is going on?" Edward asked the three of us, nonplussed.

Charlie was no better off than him in cottoning on; I was trying very hard to communicate the graveness of the situation through my expression; and Vanessa was grinning like a God damned Cheshire cat.

"Well," Vanessa started, shifting slightly so her hands were closer to the top of the tablecloth, "I was looking around for a spare pair of socks in your room, and I thought they'd be in your dresser…but I found something else instead."

"OH-kay I think Vanessa's not feeling very well and I should take her upstairs now!!" I half-shouted, hysterical now. I seized her collar and dragged her from the kitchen and in to the hallway, while Charlie and Edward watched on with absolutely no idea as to what was going on.

Once we were out of sight and in the hall, we had a silent argument – well, I scolded her by mouthing insults and she broke down in silent fits of laughter. It was only when I realised that she wasn't holding anything anymore and that Edward and Charlie were perfectly hushed in the kitchen that I felt my chest hollow, my stomach drop past my shoes and suddenly light-headed.

Casually as I could manage while in a mode of panic, I rounded the corner with a Stepford-wives smile. However, the damage had already been done: there, on the floor in plain sight of both Charlie and Edward (who were both staring unblinkingly), was a packet of Four Seasons condoms which Alice had no doubt planted in my room should the need for them ever become apparent. I almost cried on the spot.

Wisely, Vanessa had not re-emerged in the kitchen.

"Are those–?" Charlie started to ask, but I was too quick.

"Of course not! Haha, no, I wouldn't need _those_! Ever!" I bent down and whipped them out of sight, shoving them under my coat. "Edward and I really have to go!" My voice was very high-pitched. I ripped Edward from his chair and practically threw him out the door on to the front porch, leaping out after him and slamming the door behind me.

"Car, now," I said, seizing his elbow and dragging him to the Volvo parked out front. When I started to go for the driver's side he seemed to come back down to earth, because I felt my jacket being pulled back.

"Not a chance," he said, directing me to the passenger side.

"Whatever. Just get us out of here before Charlie realises what just happened."

"Was that–?" he started, but I cut him off like a knife.

"Not the time! Shut up and drive!"

He threw the car in to Drive and sped off down the road, but not before I turned to see Charlie standing on the porch of the house, furious expression on his face and the silent promise of a lecture when I decided to return home again. I was not looking forward to it.

A few minutes of silence prevailed, so I decided to break it.

"That _went_ well," I revealed the pack of condoms and put them on the dash like they were diseased or something. "Until Vanessa thought she'd be funny."

Edward just grunted. I wasn't sure how he was reacting to this situation.

"You okay?" I checked, swivelling to see his eyes.

He took a moment. "I'm fine."

"Dying of embarrassment?"

"Something like that."

We sat in silence – I was waiting for him to add something to that sentiment, and he knew it, but he seemed determined not to do so. Finally, I cracked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He slammed on the breaks outside a row of wealthy houses on the outskirts of town, throwing me forward in my seat and toppling things from behind us.

He put it in to park, applied the handbrake and switched off the engine before turning his entire body to me. I clicked off my seatbelt to rub the sore spots on my torso and shoulder where it had cut in.

"Ouch," I elongated the word, annoyed.

He clicked his belt off too. "Sorry about that. But, well, yeah. Sorry."

"So why the traffic jam?"

"There aren't any other cars around, Bella."

I huffed. "Seriously Edward, what is it?"

He tapped the top of the steering wheel with his palm, and didn't look at me while he spoke.

"You seemed pretty embarrassed about the idea of the two of us being…together. And I dunno, maybe I'm just being stupid but it kind of hurts that you were so horrified by the thought. Why, though? Why do you look at a packet of those–" he pointed to the Four Seasons box, "–and cringe like it's shameful? Is it just because it's _me_?"

I was completely dumbfounded. Edward, thinking that I didn't want him like that? _What?!_ I wanted him like that from the first moment I saw him – nay, the first time I read his graceful handwriting. And here he is, right beside me, thinking that I'm _embarrassed_ by it.

My mouth had opened and closed like a goldfish many times while I thought. Every string of words I'd been about to speak seemed to be not forceful enough to make him understand how much I loved him. It was nothing to do with me being embarrassed of him–

"I'm only embarrassed because I didn't want Charlie to think that. That's just… wrong. I don't want my own father knowing anything about my sex life – whether it exists or otherwise. Even if he knew I were a virgin I would be horrified. Charlie and I just don't express those things – it's- it's- wrong. Just wrong."

Edward's face bloomed a beautiful smile. "So you wouldn't be ashamed if we had… you know…"

"Done it?" My face mirrored his beam now. He nodded. "Not at all. I would be –" I stopped short, about to say 'thrilled', but not wanting to sound overly-excitable on the subject, I cleared my throat and went for "– happy to have you as my first."

He leaned over the divider and kissed me on the cheek, placing his warm palm on the other side of my face. I put my own hand up to catch it there.

"I love you," he whispered, eyes looking from my eyes to my lips and back again.

Whispering the same back, I leaned forward to him (the leather seat squeaked suggestively) and kissed him deeply. My hands wandered in his silken hair, mussing it up sex-hair-style. He held himself upward with one hand and kept the other on my cheek, pushing against me with the same amount of enthusiasm as I was exuberating on him. His hand dropped down my face to my shoulder, then to my waist, but he didn't go further than that.

"Always the gentleman," I breathed when I came up for air.

Edward smiled and kissed me lightly again. "Always."

* * *

**Well! There it is. Any foreshadowing as of yet? Any comments? Let me know!**

**Chapter 5 Question:**

**Who would you turn gay for?**

**(If you're from Aus and you watch Rove Live, you'll understand where that question came from!)**


	6. Eavesdropping

**Okay! Here it is, chapter 6... and for your viewing pleasure, it's from Vanessa's POV. This is something I almost never did in MPP, so I hope y'all like it!**

* * *

**VANESSA HICKEN**

I woke on Wednesday morning to a bed that was more comfortable than anything I'd slept in during the past year or so. Even stranger was that I was _alone_ in the spare bedroom of Charlie Swan's house – he and Bella had kindly let me stay with them – and as they both enjoyed their solidarity just as much as I did, neither of them ever came in when they were unwanted.

This morning, however, it was for good reason that I heard Charlie and Bella's voices. From the sounds of it they were in the kitchen, arguing; and I could guess what about. My little prank last night had probably been toeing the line of overstaying my welcome – but there was just something about Edward. He reminded me of someone I would rather not think about.

So, quickly as I dared, I squeezed through the opening in my door and crept silently down the stairs, taking more care than usual not to trip over anything. I reached the point on the staircase where I could see them both from the thighs downward, and stopped there. I was very sure neither of them would be able to see me unless they tripped flat on their face and looked straight at me from the floor.

I wouldn't put it past Bella to do something so clumsy yet so clever.

I crouched down and held on to the bars of the staircase, prison cell-style, and listened. Rude, I know, but my intrigue as to Charlie's reaction was too great to pass up such an opportunity.

"I don't get what the big deal is, Dad. They aren't even mine!" Bella was using the classical teenager-talking-to-parent-like-parent-is-deaf tone.

Charlie grumbled something under his breath, then came out with, "Well if you're not using them then why aren't they in your room any more?"

"_You went through my bedroom?!"_

"Don't turn this around on me young lady! I'm just doing what's best for you."

"If you were doing what's best for me then you would leave Edward and I in peace!"

"Peace? That boy does not instil _peace._ When you first met him you were all over the place with your emotions! You didn't know which way was up!"

"And if you try and separate the two of us you can expect a more violent version of that child for the rest of my living-under-this-roof-life, _Dad._"

Bella's feet appeared in front of the sink, and I heard running water. She must be doing the breakfast dishes already. Darn it, I haven't eaten yet! Oh well. I'll do my own when I go down.

"I wasn't planning on breaking the two of you up, Bella."

"Then what was the point of this conversation, Dad?" She clanked some cutlery in to the water, rustling it all around. Some water sloshed on the tiles by her feet.

Charlie cleared his throat and I sensed an awkward sentence coming. "I was just going to tell you that I'm uh, 'proud', that you're being responsible-" Bella stopped moving and I could almost hear her eyes shutting tightly in an internal cringe, "-but if what you say is true, then you don't _need_ to be responsible – though I would have expected responsibility from you all along. Uh… yes. By the way, you'll need to call Renee some time."

"_You told Mum?!"_

"She has a right to know these things!"

"_Bull shi_-! Bull. That's bull, Char- Dad, and you know it. You just wanted to get me in trouble with Mum!"

Charlie sniggered. "She's better at these talks than I am, Bells."

Bella growled and sloshed the dishes more violently. There was silence after that – other than the clank and clatter of plates and spoons – so I crept up the stairs and to my room. I loudly shut the door, yawned, and crossed to the bathroom, slamming that for effect too.

A shower and blow-dry twenty minutes later (not to mention the the application of the lessening thickness of my foundation now that the bruises were getting a chance to heal), I skipped noisily down the stairs in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, no shoes. When I rounded the corner, Bella glared. Charlie had left for work, as the cruiser and his leather jacket were both gone along with the gun belt.

"Still didn't find socks, I see."

"Nope." I went to the cupboard and produced a bowl, then foraged for cereal and milk before digging in. Bella didn't say a word. "Why the frowny face?" I asked, knowing full-well that she would probably bite my head off.

"Why do you think?! Edward and I had our first fight because of that ridiculous prank of yours, Vanessa. It wasn't fair on me or him or Charlie. Why on earth did you do it anyway? And what were you really looking for in my room?"

I chewed slowly through a bite of cocoa pops before I answered her.

"Firstly, I _was_ actually looking for socks. I wanted to go for a run last night because it helps me sleep easier." That was partially true. When my physical body was tired I fell asleep quicker and woke up less often – but it never prevented the nightmares. "And I thought it would be kinda funny to see Charlie's reaction. He's a good egg, Bella, you should be proud to have such a laid-back father – especially one who's a cop at the same time."

Bella scoffed throatily and yanked one soapy hand from the sink, seizing a cloth to dry it. She still looked pissed but I could see the beginnings of forgiveness in her eyes.

"I _do_ appreciate Charlie. However, there are some things and some conversations that just don't need to happen between a father and daughter." She slapped the dishcloth back on the sink. "I owe you one, now. I'll strike when you're least expecting it," she said, drumming the tips of fingers together dramatically. I laughed.

"Lookin' forward to it, Swan. Go get dressed, we've gotta leave in twenty." I held out my hand for a hi-five as she passed, and it was received well. That was our own personal forgiveness code – it started when Bella first got sand in my eye when we were toddlers and our violently executed handshake of 'sorry' turned in to a hi-five.

We had a history, Bella and I.

---

We arrived at school with some ten minutes to spare. Bella and I chatted lightly as we headed for the morning congregational area by the cafeteria, but just as we were passing the gym we were interrupted by some… unpleasantness.

"Vanessa! Hey! Wait up," I heard quick footfalls approaching from behind, so Bella and I turned just as Mike Newton skidded to a stop in front of us.

Beside me, Bella folded her arms, but from the slight straightening of her posture I knew she was quite pissed to have this maggot so close to her. As was I, come to think of it.

"Pier not long enough for you, Newton?" I asked, leaning heavily on one leg. From parental lectures of the past, I knew this stance coupled with folded arms was my 'rebelious-teenager' pose. I hoped it deterred Mike far, far away.

No such luck.

"I wanna show you something," he said, grinning stupidly.

I looked over his shoulder where James was, a tall redhead wrapped around his middle while their faces were joined together; and beside him was a tall, dark profile that I knew far too well for the amount of time that'd passed since introductions. I could tell from the set of his face that he was glaring – but I wasn't sure who at. Probably me. Well, I _did_ kind of chop his head off over nothing. I was in the middle of waving a red flag, if you know what I mean. The temper doesn't hold up so well against stupid nicknames at times like that.

"What is it, little boy?" I said lazily, returning my gaze reluctantly to Newton.

"I can do a killer elephant impression," he said, and somehow the stupid grin widened.

I started laughing. "That's very nice. Now run along and paint your Malibu Barbie's nails, won't you?"

"No, no, you have to see," he persisted, reaching in both his pockets for something. I raised a brow and waited, peeking peripherally at Bella. She seemed okay.

That was, until Newton pulled his pockets inside out and started unzipping his fly.

"Whoa!" I said, whipping around and grabbing Bella's elbow on the way. "I'm not interested in kiddie porn, Newton; 'cos if the ears are any indication the trunk isn't gonna be worth pulling out my microscope for!"

I didn't need to look but I knew Mike would be an admirable shade of red. The laughs from onlookers were congratulatory to me, and insulting to Mike. That boy really needed to give up.

I slung an arm over Bella's shoulder, pulling her close to my side so no one else would be able to overhear while we walked.

"You alright, girl?" I said quietly.

She nodded, and turned to grin widely. "Some elephant impression," she started laughing now.

"I don't think Photoshop would be able to help that kid." I started laughing with her just as we came in view of the cafeteria door loiterers. "He's a lost cause."

"No kidding!"

---

Everything was fine up until lunchtime, when Bella handed me her cell phone across the table. "Your dad," she mouthed, allowing me the opportunity to escape the listening lunchers without being questioned.

I smiled my thanks to her, then took the phone and left my seat. I didn't raise it to my ear until I was outside the cafeteria and seated in an empty hallway.

"Hello?" I said carefully, wondering and knowing at the same time what the call was about.

"Vanessa?" It was indeed my father's bristly voice that I heard through the speaker. "I got your text messages. What's going on? Why didn't you come home?"

"We were nowhere near Philadelphia, Dad. That's on the other side of the continent! I wanted to see Bella and Charlie."

"You might've told me where you were in the first place, Vanessa Jane. I've been worried sick!"

I silently sighed, knowing that having him hear such a frustrated sound would flare his temper. "I _did_ tell you. I said I was going on the cross-country trip with some friends!"

"No, you said you were 'going away for a few weeks'. Then you packed up your bags and took off!"

"Same difference," I said dismissively, already tiring of the conversation.

My Dad grunted over the line. "I never trusted that boy, Vanessa. I think the only reason you didn't tell me what you were really doing was because you knew I would say 'no'."

_Well, duh,_ I thought. "I just didn't want you to worry about me."

"I worried more because you'd disappeared!" He paused, waiting for my rebuttal. I didn't give him one, so he continued in a softer voice. "I want you to come back home, sweetheart. I'll wire you the money for a plane ticket if you need. Please come back? I miss you. So do Cathy and the twins."

Cathy was my father's second wife; and the twins, Oliver and Aryanna, were the product of their marriage. Cathy was nice enough and the kids weren't horrible all of the time – but their presence in the house stripped me of the only thing I ever asked for from my father. Privacy.

"I know, and I miss them too. Tell them that for me. But you need to leave me be for a while Dad, you know how I need my space." _Besides, if I come home then _he'll_ be able to find me._

He sighed, and it was a defeated sound. "Alright. You really are like your mother in that way."

"What; the running off?"

"No, that you like your space."

"Oh. Right."

"But please Vanessa, keep in contact with us? I'll have to ring Charlie if you don't. If I go two days without hearing from you then I'm calling the Swans."

"Okay, but if you try to wheedle information from Charles or Bella, or if you come over here or try to force me back over there, I'll be gone so fast your head will spin."

"Threat received and taken. No intrusions."

I grinned in to the phone. "Thanks, Dad."

"I'll speak to you soon, honey. I miss you, and I love you," he spoke quieter in to the phone now, aware that this was the end of the conversation.

"Love you too. I'll ring you later, 'kay?"

"Okay. Be safe."

"Bye Dad!" Then I hung up before the verbal loop could begin.

Back in the cafeteria, I passed Jessica's table on my way to give Bella her phone back.

"Sit with us?" Victoria offered, gesturing to the empty seat beside Lauren. I knew these girls had a nasty reputation, but if everyone moved about the world according to what others say and not what they think for themselves, I would not have any friends at all. Besides, this lot seemed cool enough.

"Yeah," I said, walking backwards past their table for a few steps. "Give me a minute."

Lauren smiled as I walked away, then went back to conversation with the other girls.

I got to Bella's table, where Rosalie and Emmett were once again making out. Jasper and Alice were playing some kind of game where their hands were tip-to-tip, palms down, and Alice was slapping the back of Jasper's hands before he could pull away. Bella and Edward were watching me approach, concern on their faces.

"Everything okay?" Bella asked as soon as I was in earshot. She shifted over to make room for me on the bench, but I didn't sit.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go talk to Lauren and that for a bit. Catch up with you later?"

Edward and Bella looked at each other before looking back at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I can take care of myself," I said huffily.

Bella shrugged. "If you're sure. What've you got this afternoon?"

I pulled my timetable from my pocket and examined my after-lunch subject for today. "Art, with Alice," I said, looking across at her. She was mid-slap of Jasper's hand, and almost missed at the mention of her name.

"What?" she said, not looking away from Jasper.

"Never mind," Bella said. "Talking _about_ you, not _to_ you!"

"Funny," Alice chirped before catching Jasper unaware again. Jasper didn't look too pleased to be losing – and his hands were starting to get small, pink hand print outlines.

"Well, I've got study," Bella pressed on, "so if you need to talk, just nick Alice's phone and message me. Miss Bennett won't care if you bludge for a while."

"Okay. See you later!" I turned away, avoiding Edward's eyes, and thinking about how strange it was that he'd not said anything the entire time.

However, when I was at a distance away, my blessedly sensitive hearing picked up two voices back at Bella's table.

"Vanessa sitting with those girls is going to turn out badly," Alice whispered.

"I agree," Edward replied.

I resisted the urge to go back there, poke my tongue out like a child and tell them that I was a big girl and that my decisions have nothing to do with their stupid little selves… though I could empathise with their concern. It turned out that my ability to choose good friends was way out of whack back in Philadelphia.

* * *

**.......and there it was!! Do you like the tantalising little hints at Vanessa's past? How about her home-life situation? Believe me, there're reasons for _everything_ in this story. I spent much time planning it all out - kinda like JK did with the Harry Potters. That book series was planned something crazy-good.**

**Anyway, I'm rambling. **

**Chapter 6 Question:**

**When (in your life) has prejudice stalled something great from happening?**


	7. Picnic

**Okay! Here it is - installment number seven. I've changed the rating, as you may or may not have noticed... so expect some lime. Less than a lemon, but more than fluff. Heh heh. Oh, and if you're reading - hey Shoob!**

**

* * *

**

**ISABELLA SWAN**

I drove home from school on Friday afternoon with Vanessa by my side and Edward following my truck through the winding streets. He had told me before we'd left school that he had a surprise for me and that I wasn't allowed to make dinner tonight. Vanessa and Charlie would have to pave their own path in the way of food, he'd said with a sly grin.

Usually I would have worried about such a request from my boyfriend, who seemed to get himself – wait, he seemed to get _me_ in trouble with his strange little ideas – but tonight I was just too tired. The week had been long; I had a bag splitting with my homework load and a cousin who didn't seem quite here nor there. I wondered what was going on inside Vanessa's mind, sometimes.

We reached Charlie's house just as light sheetings of rain started to blanket the air. I pulled the truck in; cut the engine, made sure the lights were off and reached for my bag.

"Vanessa," I said just as she was reaching for her doorhandle. "Edward has something planned tonight, but I don't know what it is. You know I hate surprises-"

"He knows too," she chortled.

I rolled my eyes. "I know. Anyway, if you knew anything about what's in store for me, you'd tell me, right?"

"Probably not," she laughed, shoving open the truck door. "But in this case I actually don't know anything that's worth keeping from you. Sorry."

She jumped out, her bag sliding off the seat after her, and disappeared with her hood up in the direction of the house. I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself for some kind of Alice-inspired surprise party for my not-birthday or to be told to get dressed up so he could take me out to dinner or something. All negativities aside, I was looking forward to not having to cook tonight. My limbs felt like lead.

I jumped when Edward tapped on the window right beside my head. I clutched my heart for dramatic effect before reaching for my bag again and hopping out, not having to open the door as Edward had already done it for me. He closed it behind me too.

"Excited?" he asked as we headed up to the house.

I looked sidelong at him. "Can't you just _see_ how thrilled I am?"

He chuckled, and didn't say anything until we were in the house, coats hung up and bags making two sizeable divots in my mattress upstairs. Vanessa was downstairs, sizzling some eggs or something for an after-school snack, and Charlie wasn't home yet. I lay back on my mattress, arms above my head under my pillow, and closed my eyes with the intention of sleeping.

Edward, however, didn't agree with such a boring pastime.

"Let's get through some of this homework," he said, dragging his bag across the mattress. Then his bodyweight moved in my direction.

Even though my eyes were closed, I could tell he was leaning an inch away from my face. The warmth radiating from his skin and the lovely smell he exuberated were the biggest giveaways. The pillow beside my head sunk slightly and I knew his hand was there, supporting his bodyweight.

I couldn't stand how delicious he smelled, so I opened my eyes.

There he was. Eyes like liquid green fireworks on a night sky…and I felt innately calm just by looking into them. His skin was like some kind of honey glazed over the most perfect marble, light pink flushes along his cheekbones, a nose so perfect I'd have expected to see it only on the son of a plastic surgeon, and cheekbones and a jaw line that combined to rival that of a movie star.

All around, a face that I surely didn't deserve, but one that stayed with me anyway.

I grinned, and so did he, which shifted my attention to his lips. They looked glazed, soft; like light pink pillows. Wondering if my own looked anywhere near as appealing (I doubted it very much), I bit my lip self-consciously. His twinkling eyes darted to my mouth, and he slowly leaned down.

I pushed myself up slightly to meet him halfway, and when our mouths touched a shiver ran down my spine. His lips were strangely cold, like he'd just finished an ice-cream. I loved it.

We kissed for a long while, his hands exploring my hair and mine holding both his shirt and the back of his neck in an effort to get him closer to me. He was a drug that I couldn't get enough of, and never would.

I was beginning to feel confident, so, as I always did when the confident feeling hit, I slid the hand on his chest down the bumps of his abs, catching the hem of his shirt and raising it to touch the skin there. He shied away from the cool temperature of my fingertips for a moment, but then pushed his stomach against my hand as he slid slightly upwards, pressing every line of his body closer to me. A buzzing in my veins began circulating – perhaps a release of adrenaline? – and I raised one knee gently to push between his thighs. My hand was still flat against his stomach, but it'd moved around and was tracing alone the line of his muscular V.

Using my index finger, I allowed my hand to go down, further and further, past the waist of his jeans, and I was just manoeuvring the elastic of his boxers when –

"Charlie's home!" Vanessa yelled up the stairs. A moment later the sound of the front door opening and closing was heard.

I whipped my hand from Edward's hips and got out from under him so quickly I might have been pulled by a walking stick with a hook on the end, like in old cartoons. Edward groaned and flopped onto my comforter, face-down, and lay still for a moment. I could feel his frustration as my own.

Quick as a flash I ran to the bathroom, seized my hairbrush and tried to tame my mussed-up hair, then gave up and pulled it back in a smooth pony-tail. I reapplied some Chapstick and tried to calm my breathing, then smoothed my clothes and nervously pulled my pony tail tighter.

Back in the bedroom, Edward had sat up and was fiddling with the buttons on his trousers. I grinned and sat beside him, leaving the door open a few inches so Charlie wouldn't come barrelling in, demanding to know why the door was closed.

I shoulder bumped him playfully, but he didn't look at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, scanning my actions for something that I might've done to upset him.

He shook his head.

"No, what's wrong? I want to know," I put a hand on either side of his face and made him look at me. "What is it?"

He sighed and put a hand over one of mine, then closed his eyes and leaned in to the caress. "I'm sorry. I should have asked you first. I don't want you to do anything you're not sure about, Bella."

I laughed at that, and his eyes snapped open, half-hurt and half-confused.

"What? What's funny?" he asked defensively.

I realised I'd offended him and stopped laughing immediately. "Edward," I lowered my free hand and put it on his knee. "I am very sure about you. I was sure about you the first time you kissed me on the hand. Anything we do together; I don't know about you but _I mean every second of it._ Besides," I added when he started to argue, "you weren't the one trying to take your p-"

"HEY Charlie!" Edward suddenly shouted over the top of me. I blanched and ripped my hand away from Edward's leg. Fortunately for me, blushing was a common occurrence, so the tomato state of my face wasn't much of a giveaway to my father.

Charlie was standing in the doorway, arms folded, and the door was open further than I'd left it. I wondered how long he'd been standing there for.

"Hey Dad," I said, standing up. Edward stayed sitting behind me. "What's up?"

"Nothing," he said, eyeing Edward behind me. "Just making sure you two were doing your homework. I know how tough senior year can be."

"Yep, we're getting in to the books right now," I said, lunging for my school bag in a bid at looking enthusiastic about my education.

"Hmm." He was still looking at Edward suspiciously.

"Was there anything else?" I asked, wanting nothing more than for Charlie to leave the immediate area.

He unfolded his arms and looked carefully between us. Edward was standing beside me now, his Music book under his arm. "So what's happening with dinner?"

"Edward's taking me out and Vanessa is cooking for the two of you. Unless you want to cook," I added cheekily.

Charlie shook his head. "Vanessa can have a go in the kitchen. I've gotta see what the rest of the Swan bloodline can do with a saucepan now, don't I?"

And with that he left, but not before pointing scissor fingers at his own eyes and then at Edward's, mouthing, 'I'm watching you'. I had to bury my face in Edward's shirt to avoid laughing too loudly.

Four hours later, during which Edward and I had probably spent only half our time actually doing work and the rest talking about anything and everything, Edward announced that he was hungry. I put away my art things, carefully hiding the drawings of him that I'd been perfecting.

"What?" I laughed at his grumbling stomach, confused out of my mind. "It's already past seven. We can't get to any decent restaurant tonight _now_, everything will be booked out! Friday nights are terrible for tables!"

He just grinned and took my hand, then led me down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, he said, "Stay here," very mysteriously. Then he disappeared out the front door.

I crossed my arms and waited for a few minutes until Edward came back. I was sitting on the bottom stair with my chin resting on my palm when he came through, a huge basket on his arm.

"We're going on a picnic?"

"Not your usual kind of picnic," he said, even more mysteriously.

I started laughing. "It's raining! We can't go on a picnic!"

"_Au contraire, Isabella,_ I spoke to Alice and she said that there would be about an hour and a half of cloudless sky tonight."

_Damn Alice._ "Fine," I said, standing and heading back up the stairs. "I'm getting a jacket."

"I'll wait for you outside," Edward called up to me. When I turned back once I'd reached the top of the stairs, he was gone.

I checked my appearance in the bathroom mirror after I had a thick winter jacket wrapped around my torso. I looked as boring as ever – probably the most I could ask for – so I fiddled with my pony for a second before taking a breath and heading back down the stairs.

Edward was out the back of the house on the porch, staring at the bugs getting zapped in the hypnotic blue light hanging from the porch. When the screen door banged shut behind me he snapped out of it and looked over, smiling with such warmth that I may as well have been wearing a ball gown.

"The grass'll still be wet, you know," I warned, heading past him to the lawn.

He reached out to stop me. "We're not going on the grass, Bella." He had that mischievous glint in his eye once more.

"You can't have a picnic without grass," I argued stubbornly.

"I think you'll find that you can," he laughed. Then he let go of me and headed across the porch to the water tank.

"What're you doing?" I asked cautiously, following him at a small distance. "Get down!" I yelped when he started climbing up on top of it.

"Oh, right," he said, hopping down. "Ladies first." And with that he seized me around the waist, lifted me as if I were made of air, and sat me gently on top of the water tank.

"Edward," I gulped, my voice losing its ferocity, "I don't do well with heights."

"You'll be fine." He swung up so effortlessly that it made my heart ache, knowing I would have looked nowhere near as graceful as that. He was just too beautiful for words.

"C'mon," he stood up and reached down for my hand. I forced myself not to look at the ground, and not to think about how painful it would be when I fell (yes – _when_, not _if_), and stood up beside him. He put an arm around my waist and guided me across the iron roof of Charlie's house. Amazingly, I didn't slip down and break my neck. Probably because I was concentrating more on how close he was to me than how close I was to the edge of the rooftop.

"Here we are," he said after a minute of careful walking, and I peeled my eyes from his face.

Edward had set out a picnic on the roof of my house. There was a white and red chequered rug there, with four or five cushions for us to sit on, another bug zapper sitting a little way away from the setting, candles and three small lamps for light, and Edward had made a salad and cold chicken dish. The basket he'd been carrying earlier was sitting empty beside everything else.

The thing that struck me most, however, was how beautifully clear and sparkly the night sky was. I cast for a memory to compare it to, but other than ones involving Phoenix with my mother, I didn't remember ever seeing the night sky without clouds here in Forks. Edward had indeed picked the perfect night for this little date of ours. Or, Alice had just told him which night to pick.

"You like it?" he asked from beside me, uncertainty in his voice. He was afraid I wouldn't like it! How sweet.

"I don't like it," I said seriously, turning to him. His face fell. "I _love_ it. This is _incredible, _Edward."

Relief broke the horrified mask and he slowly smiled. "That was evil," he said happily.

"Yep. Shall we?" I gestured to the setting.

"Aren't I supposed to say that?"

"Probably. I never was big on tradition."

He laughed. "I know."

We sat down side by side on the pile of cushions, and I was able to get a better view of the large number of things that were up here.

"How did you do this so fast?" I enquired, picking up a bottle of Solo and a pair of champagne glasses by the picnic basket. "I was only gone for a few minutes."

"I got Vanessa to help."

_That was nice of her._ "And she didn't trip and break her neck?" I said, but more to myself. "Cool."

Edward leaned forward to get the bowl of salad. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm a hopeless cook – so I got Esme to help me with the food. Therefore it had to be cold."

"You couldn't get Vanessa to warm it up for us?"

"She's not _that_ spineless," he laughed. "Nah, not really, I just didn't want her to have to do too much for this. I wanted to do most of this on my own, just for you." He looked right in to my eyes as he said this, and my heart melted through my veins. I felt all googly and mushy; like old ladies with babies in prams. Or Alice and new shoes.

I leaned forward and kissed him gently, but pulled back when I sensed I was starting to kilter off-balance.

"Let's eat," he said softly, reaching for the plates.

A few minutes later I had potato salad, a few pieces of cold chicken, Caesar salad and a glass of Solo in front of me.

Edward raised his wine glass. "To a night as beautiful as you," his eyes twinkled at me, the candles and the lamp the only sources of light we had now.

I raised my glass to, cheeks pink from his compliment. "To no rain."

Our glasses clanked together, and as he drank he looked straight in to my eyes. I looked away, blushing deeper and feeling a tingle on the surface of my skin. Automatically, I pulled my jacket tighter around my shoulders.

"Are you cold?" asked Edward, already shrugging out of his jacket.

I waved him off. "I'm fine. I just got a shiver, that's all. Keep your jacket on or you'll freeze."

He kept taking the jacket off anyway.

"Well," he said, lying it down on the empty space of rug between us, "if you're not going to wear it then I guess it'll just have to stay there."

I lowered my eyebrows at him, sensing an oncoming eye-roll – but thought better of it as an idea struck. I unzipped my jacket and shrugged out of it too.

"What're you doing?" he snapped immediately. "Put that back on, you'll freeze!"

I laughed and shook my head. "If you're not going to wear a jacket-" I put it down beside Edward's, "-neither am I."

Edward took a big breath in, then let it out in a huff. "Fine," and he reached for my jacket, pulled it on and tried to do the zipper up. I broke down with laughter.

My jacket was at least three sizes too small for him. The neckline barely reached his collarbones as his shoulders were so wide, the sleeves rode up somewhere between his elbow and wrist and the bottom of the jacket only reached the lowest point of his rib cage. I tried to compose myself as he reached forward with his fork to take a bite, but the jacket wouldn't let him to it. He had to move like there was a coat hanger in his back.

"You look ridiculous," I said, wiping a tear from my eye.

"And you look cold," he countered.

As he said it, I shivered again. I couldn't stand the thought of him nursing me if I caught cold – which I was bound to do – so I reached for his jacket and pulled it on. I had to roll the sleeves up several times to free my hands. I didn't miss the smug look Edward was trying to hide, but I preferred not to comment.

Twenty minutes later and we were almost finished eating. Out of the blue, Edward asked me a question.

"So, that thing about the condoms-" I choked a little on my mouthful of potato at the word, "-how did the conversation with Renee go?"

I gulped heavily and dabbed at the corners of my mouth with a napkin.

"She seemed to think it was funny more than she was angry. That's not to say I didn't receive an embarrassing sex talk, however. It didn't last long. Unlike Charlie, she knows that I'm mature enough to make my own decisions – and that no parental chat will change my mind once it's been made up."

"So you've made up your mind about it, then?"

"Oh, don't be a pain," I scoffed, knowing that he was trying to get a rise out of me. "You'll find out one day."

"Will I?"

This time he sounded genuinely curious. I was confused, because I thought the topic had been cleared in the car after the episode with Charlie had occurred.

"Um, yeah. Maybe." I felt embarrassed now… I knew where I wanted my relationship with Edward to go, but the mention of eventual marriage at such a tender age was sure to scare him off. Hell, it was enough to scare _me_ off, and I was the one thinking it.

"Cool." Edward grinned through a mouthful of chicken, reminding me of a monkey. I couldn't help it this time – I had to laugh. Unfortunately, the cherry tomato I'd half-chewed wasn't very accommodating to such a reaction.

"Bella?" Edward said when my coughs didn't subside. I put my plate down and doubled over, trying not to choke. "Bella!" he cried, clearly alarmed.

I couldn't see him as my eyes were tearing up now, but a moment later I felt his hand beating me between the shoulder blades. It took a couple of thumps before the tomato slid down my throat and I could breathe again. Edward quickly poured some water and gave me the frosty glass.

"You okay?" he asked as I drank.

I nodded, gulping the water down to soothe my throat. It felt terrible, but the water was helping. Once I'd drained the glass, I put it down and did something rather unexpected – I laughed.

"Are you mental?" he asked as I kept giggling, but I could hear the amusement in his voice too. He started chuckling. Eventually I settled myself down enough to speak.

"I can't believe I almost died of tomato consumption," I coughed, reaching for my Solo. "That would've made an interesting obituary column."

Edward just shook his head, flabbergasted at my weird behaviour.

"I wonder though, what _would_ I want on my gravestone? Or at my funeral? It'd be pointless to have something fancy, _I _think, because I won't even be there to see it." I took another long drink. "What would you want?"

The middle of his brows rose while he thought. "I dunno. The only thing I'd really want would be for my favourite sad song to be played."

"What's that?"

"'Goodbye My Lover' by James Blunt."

"I love that song. It's beautiful – especially the piano. It makes me cry almost every time."

He laughed, a thought striking him. "You could always bury my piano with me," he chortled sarcastically.

"Yeah, right. I think you'd rise from the grave and save your pretty piano before it got a speck of dirt on it."

He thought for a moment, something which I found funny and started laughing. "I probably would," he said, stretching his arms to the sky, and yawning. "But that's enough about sad, funeral type things. I, for one, want my jacket back."

"Alright, you big baby. But I want mine then." I rolled the sleeves down and pulled it off, trading it with my own as he dangled it from the end of his finger. I pulled mine back on and zipped it up, ecstatic that it smelled just like him. Sweet, like red lollies, and addictive like chocolate.

I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on this, because Edward draped his arm over my shoulder and touched his forehead to mine. "You smell lovely," he complimented, and I giggled.

"I was just thinking the same of you, Eddie," I said, deliberately jibing him.

He rolled his eyes. "You know I hate that nickname."

"I know."

"So why-?"

"It's fun to mess with you."

"Fair enough," he said, but I didn't get a chance to respond because he leaned in and brushed my nose with his, then touched his lips to mine.

I kissed him back firmly, leaning toward him without thinking about it. One hand was in his hair straight away, and the other reached round to his lower back. I could feel the warmth through his jacket.

We kissed like that for a few minutes, Edward's arms pulling me closer so I was almost sitting on top of him. I had no problem with that. I pulled back when I really had to breathe, and was pleased to see him panting slightly too. The flush on his cheeks made me want him so badly it was like an ache in my chest, and his whispered words didn't help me self-control cause.

"You taste like bubbles."

I almost pushed him over when I kissed him again. He caught himself, and me, just in time, and began to straighten himself up. But he didn't stop leaning my way and soon I found the picnic rug at my back and Edward pushed up against me from almost everywhere else.

He began to plant light kisses down my neck and across my collarbone, giving us both a chance to catch a breath. I ran my fingers through his incredibly soft hair, and he slowly made his way up to my face along the other side of my neck.

When our lips were together again I nipped gently on his lower, and a frustrated growl rumbled his chest. The hand which was on my hip slowly slid down, excruciatingly slow, and when it reached the point just inside my hip bone I kissed him with such ferocity that I was surprised I hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen quite yet.

I wished I had changed from my jeans to my trackies (sweat pants) at that moment, craving his hand where he clearly wanted it too. But, his ability to infuriate me with his teasing shone through when he slid the tips of his fingers just shy of the hotspot, along the inner of my thigh, down a few inches and back up again. While I tried to breathe and kiss at the same time, one of my knees slowly rose up and touched his tender area. Even through the fabric of my clothes I could feel an admirable tent being pitched…Edward growled again, but in a more animalistic way this time.

My senses were on fire so I could feel all too clearly when his hand feathered back up to my stomach, brushing the heated skin there, and then with clever fingers he undid the top button of my jeans, pulled the zipper down and was slowly creeping his hand under the elastic of my Bonds –

"Ugh, guys, get a room!"

Edward jumped so badly he might have been taisered. Despite his fright and my instinct to hide my bottom half from Vanessa's head, which was peeking over the edge of the roof, Edward managed to turn around and keep my embarrassed expression hidden while I zipper up my jeans behind him.

"What is it?" said Edward, running a hand through his hair in clear frustration.

Vanessa held up something silver. "Alice called. Apparently it's going to rain in a few minutes and she will 'hunt you down' if you ruin her picnic rug."

"Oh, right. Thanks." Edward muttered some other words under his breath, but I was quite sure I wasn't meant to hear them. If Alice were to have heard them she most definitely would have aimed a kick at Edward's butt. With heels on.

Vanessa raised her brows for a moment before beginning to climb down, a suspect smile on her face. I wondered if she had known what she was interrupting.

"Worst timing ever," I grumbled once she was gone.

Edward nodded, but didn't comment. "We should pack this up. Alice usually isn't wrong about stuff like this."

I looked up as he spoke and just as I suspected, the stars were gone and the grey blanket of rain clouds had returned.

We quickly cleared everything up – Edward somehow managed to shove everything except the bug zapper in the picnic basket – and climbed down again. Edward went down first so he could catch me when I slipped off the edge of the rainwater tank.

"Thanks," I said breathlessly as he set me on my feet.

"Anytime."

We went inside just as the first drops of rain pattered on the roof tiles, and Edward set the bug zapper on the ground by the outdoor furniture as we passed. I looked at the clock in the lounge as we passed it, and noted that it was now eight o'clock.

"Time flies when you're having fun," Edward chuckled from beside me.

"It flew a bit too fast tonight," I retorted glumly.

Edward opened the front door to let me out on the porch first. I obliged, narrowly avoiding tripping over my undone shoelace, and turned to him once the door was closed and privacy was momentarily restored. I would have put it past Charlie to press his face against the glass of the lounge to spy – but he wouldn't be able to see us anyway. I hadn't turned the porch light on for just that reason.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "Dinner was delicious; thank Esme for me. The picnic was perfect and incredibly romantic. I'm still shocked you would go to such lengths!" I joked, touching my fist to his shoulder.

Edward's eyes still managed to twinkle in the darkness. "I'd do it a thousand times again, just for you."

My bones melted to a little puddle at my feet. I stepped forward and hugged him tightly, revelling in his chocolatey smell and the way he seemed to be surrounding me; protecting me from all sides. I felt his chin rest atop my head and closed my eyes, holding on for as long as I could.

Our moment was interrupted when the porch light flicked on, and I heard Charlie's unmistakable footsteps walk away from the door. I also heard his evil little father-interrupted-your-moment chuckle.

"I should go," Edward finally said, kissing the top of my hair. Reluctantly, I loosened my grip, but left my hands on the sides of his waist.

I reached up on my toes for a kiss, which he supplied. It was short and sweet, both of us painfully aware that Charlie might beat down the door at any moment.

"Bye," I whispered as he pulled his hood up. He touched his lips to mine once more, then he was gone, trotting out in the rain to his car. I knew he had reached it when the lights came on as he unlocked it, so I went inside, starting to shiver from the cold.

Upstairs in my room, I lay down on the bed and thought about what might have happened during one of the two times Vanessa had interrupted. True, it wasn't really her fault – but it seemed that she was coincidentally destined to disrupt my relationship with Edward.

* * *

**Well there it was! I hope you're all okay with the uhh... intensity...?**

**This chapter's question is rather important and requires a back-story, so here it is:**

**In 2009 I will be a senior at school, and as seniors we get Year 12 jumpers. We also have a slogan for those jumpers. 2008's year twelves had their slogan as "Stand Up, Stand Out" - which is a bit corny to me. But whatever floats your boat. Right at the beginning of the year we're meant to come up with our own slogan - and so far, I've got nothing. I reeeally don't want to end up with a cruddy slogan - so if you guys could help, that'd be fantastic! Any slogans (except copyright ones); ones from famous people, films, celebrities, past school slogans that you know of...**

**Chapter 7 Question:**

**What should my 2009 Senior class have as their motto?**

**You guys are the bomb,**

**-Shaps**


	8. Birthday

**Okay! This will be a super-short author's note:**

**Sorry for not updating for more than a week! To make up for it, here's a twelve thousand word chapter. Prepare to be long-chapter'd :-D**

**And as always, I love you guys for reviewing. Hugs all round!**

**Wed. Jan 21 '09: Okay. The chapter is updated to make up for the terribleness of the dialogue. Hope it's up to scratch now :-D**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

A week had passed and during that time Edward and I had not spoken of our picnic date. Sure, we'd caught each other's eyes at moments when we were sure the other had been thinking the same thing, smiled and looked away at the same time; but it'd never come up in conversation. There wasn't exactly a lot to be said on the subject anyway – "So, you know how we almost got to second base?" didn't seem like a very casual opener. And where to go from there? A crash landing, most likely.

But right at the moment I didn't have a lot of time to concentrate on that, because unbeknown to me (I wasn't sure about Edward, but I suspected he knew and just didn't tell me) Alice and Leah had planned a birthday party for Sam Uley at his house in Port Angeles.

It took Alice and Vanessa a little over an hour to throw several different outfits at me until they found something deemed good enough for the occasion. It was Sam's nineteenth birthday, and apparently we were supposed to get dressed up in fancy clothes. I disagreed; because fancy clothes meant I was more likely to spill something. Especially since it was dark out, too.

However, all that had gone to hell now, because two minutes ago Alice had pulled up at Sam's house in Port Angeles and unloaded Vanessa and I on the doorstep while she parked the car out the back of the house.

"Shall we?" Vanessa offered me her arm.

I nodded, linked my elbow-length gloved hand with hers and walked up the steps to the walkway leading to Emmett's front door. His mother obviously had a passion for gardening; grass was trimmed to perfection and the endless beds of roses, fragrant blooming bushes, foxgloves, snap dragons and the big old Moreton bay fig with roots growing like walls around the base of the tree were cared for beautifully.

Either that, or Sam was honing a secret fetish for plant life, because he was an only child and his father wasn't around any more. I had been warned about bringing this up with Sam because it was a very tender topic.

Vanessa and I walked forward, grinning from the waves we'd received through the protruding bay window to the right of the front door. It seemed everyone (save Alice) was already inside and chatting.

Vanessa raised her hand to knock, mumbling something like, "Here goes nothing…" under her breath as she did so; but there was no need. Sam pulled the door back and greeted us with a huge "Hey!" before my cousin could begin lowering her fist.

I grinned despite myself. Sam was tall and wide as ever, beaming in a way that would have made Emmett proud.

"Hey Sam!" I chirped. "This is Vanessa," I introduced, waving a hand and looking at her. The look on her face reminded me of how I'd felt the first time Sam had bound in to sight on an athletics team bus so many months ago.

"Hi," she breathed, obviously awed by his hugeness.

"Come in, come in," he said, holding the door wider and stepping aside. Vanessa slowly gathered herself and walked in, and I followed after her.

Sam's house had a theme of warm browns and velvety reds. There was mahogany furniture everywhere; glittering chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the polished wooden floorboards matched the skirting boards. The wood under our feet reflected blurry images of the people crammed inside. I expected everyone I knew from Port Angeles to already be here; Leah, Jared, Paul and Kim. Obviously, Sam already was. To my left was the lounge room, and to the right was a dining area but the dining table appeared to have been moved elsewhere. It'd been converted to a dance floor, which was well serving its purpose.

Sam went in to the lounge and flopped down on the couch. Beside him, Leah kissed him lightly on the cheek then went back to chatting with Paul. As I went in the room with Vanessa looking curiously around at my side, I noticed a new addition. There was a girl with bright red hair and oddly tanned skin (though somehow, the two didn't clash) sitting on Paul's knee with one arm around his neck and her fingers linked with his. The both of them looked completely at ease with each other… I wondered how long it had been going on without my hearing about it.

"BELLA!" someone suddenly screamed, and I stumbled backward with the force of the hug. Once I'd steadied and untangled myself from her long black hair, Kim's face was right in front of mine.

"How are you?" she bubbled, a champagne glass in her hand. I raised an eyebrow and glanced carefully past her to Leah, who was trying very hard not to laugh by burying her face in Sam's shoulder. Paul and the redhead on his knee had identical smiles on their faces – which I would have found cute if an almost certainly drunken Kim were not awaiting my answer.

"Uh, I'm good Kim, how are you?" Leah's muffled giggles made the corner of my mouth twitch with more than a friendly smile. Vanessa had deliberately turned her face away to hide her expression.

"I'm great! I was just going for a refill. You guys want anything?"

"Nah, not right at the moment. We'll be here when you get back though, so try not to spill anything, won't you?"

She giggled like she was on helium. "I'd never spill anything!" Then she leaned in close, and beckoned for me to lean forward too, like she had a secret. I obliged. She whispered in my ear, "I'm wearing my granny underpants!" then scampered off to the dining room, whooping.

I immediately turned to Leah, who'd burst out in full-blown laughter and was clutching her stomach with her eyes closed. She looked up as I motioned confusedly with my hand. "Is she…? Has she had some…?" I made a drinking motion with my hand.

Leah fell onto Sam again.

"No," a familiar voice to my right began, "but she thinks the punch has been spiked." Jared shrugged away from the wall on the other side of Vanessa, making himself known to us newcomers.

I started laughing then. "You guys are evil!" They all grinned, or started laughing again. Leah just kept laughing.

"Breath, Leah," Sam suggested as Leah started gasping for air.

Vanessa nudged me in the ribs.

"I'm getting there," I whispered to her. "Everyone," I addressed my Port Angeles buddies more loudly, "this is my cousin, Vanessa. She's staying with me for the year."

Everyone waved lightly and their 'Hello's crossed over one another in a big friendly jumble. I crossed the carpet and sat down on the couch opposite Leah and Sam, and subtly made Vanessa sit closest to Paul and his girl. The two of them could form a friendship on the basis of being the newest, at least.

Once I was settled, and had a party pie in my hand, I got that particular conversation ball rolling.

"So Paul," he looked over at being addressed, "I haven't met your girl before." I directed my attention to the redhead now. "I'm Bella, Edward's girlfriend," I leaned over Vanessa to shake her hand. She leaned across Paul's knee to grasp my hand, and didn't look for a moment like she might fall. A coordinated one. How unfair.

"Sarah," she said in a sweet voice. As she pulled back and her hand went with her, I noticed her hands were rather small compared to mine. And Edward teased me for having small hands already.

Vanessa leaned over and shook Sarah's hand too. "Vanessa," she smiled, "as you would have gathered from my introductive cousin, here." She leaned back and touched her fist to my shoulder.

"So where're you from, Sarah?" I asked, pushing the last of my pie in my mouth.

"I'm originally from Kansas. Paul and I have been neighbours since we were kids, but we've only been dating for the past… month?" she turned to him for clarification as she guessed the length of their relationship.

"Yeah, it'd be about a month, wouldn't it?" Paul's voice had changed since last I'd seen him – or heard him – it was deeper, a little rougher. But still totally Paul.

"You're not sure?" I asked them, surprised. Usually either one in a relationship would take care to remember when they'd first started dating, to keep track of milestones and stuff.

Paul grinned, and I was sure he knew what I was thinking. "We're not too fussy about that. Besides," he grinned, and I could sense an upcoming joke, "our mothers keep track of the minutes we're over each other's houses then swap stories all the time. I swear they're worse than Leah and Kim sometimes."

"Can't be any worse than Alice," I added, starting to laugh, but I froze when the most inconvenient voice snapped –

"I do not gossip!" Alice appeared in a doorway I hadn't spotted before, the one behind Paul's chair which lead to a room full of even more people. How many people does Sam know? And why did it take Alice so damn long to park the car and get inside the house?

Everyone looked at one another, waiting for someone to agree with Alice, but…

"Oh, fine," she huffed, coming around the side of Paul's chair and sitting on the arm of the couch beside Vanessa. "Gossip. What a load of sh–"

"How are you tonight, Alice?" Leah asked, resurfacing from some kind of marathon she and Sam had been involved in. In very close proximity. Ugh, they're more like Rosalie and Emmett than I'd thought.

I looked over at Alice, and noticed she was sitting a little straighter than usual. It was like she was tense – something I barely ever saw. However, at Leah's question, Alice instantly cheered up. "Great! I'm so excited about this party. Did you invite those sophomore's like I told you to?" she directed at Sam.

Sam nodded. "They were thrilled, weirdly enough… I wasn't sure they even knew who I was!"

"Everyone knows who you are," Paul laughed. "For someone to miss you in the halls they'd have to be blind!"

Sarah giggled too. "Yeah, and they'd need the ability to walk through solid objects if they were to have avoided being knocked down when you part the school halls with your presence."

Sam raised both hands, palm up, in defeat. "If they don't see me coming, it's their own fault."

Leah whacked him in the arm. "You're like a bloody bulldozer, boy. You take out the freshmen like its sport or something!"

"It's my version of fishing. 'Freshing.'"

"Speaking of sport," Paul said, and I could tell he was changing the subject to stop Sam digging a deeper hole for himself, "did you see the Mariners beat the Socks the other night?"

"Only half. Mum wanted to watch Desperate Housewives so I let her have the TV when it came on. What happened in the end?"

I internally cooed at the fact Sam had given up the television for his mother's benefit, but tuned out from the sport centred conversation. I knew I would have nothing interesting to offer.

Alice and Sarah were talking, so I immersed myself in that.

"So Kansas, eh? What's it like in the state of both Superman and Dorothy?"

Sarah laughed. "If I lived in Smallville, and if I grew up with Clark Kent anywhere near me, there's no way I'd have moved here!" She was totally joking, but Paul still turned and glowered at her for a moment. She made a kissy face at him before Sam reclaimed his attention with a demand for further details on the end of the game.

"Agreed," Vanessa laughed, but mine and Alice's attentions were both completely diverted when the most fabulous pair of boys appeared in the doorway by the front door.

"Jasper!" Alice squealed, somehow launching herself on to the coffee table then taking a flying leap over Sam and Leah's heads for Jasper to easily catch her in his arms. He spun her around while she clung to him, arms around his neck and legs viced around his waist.

I wondered what the hell was going on – even for Alice, this behaviour was intensely crazy. Confused, I looked at Jasper's accomplice, my beautiful Edward. What I saw there was both reassuring and terrifying.

Though his slightly olive tones were still there, under his skin I could see a tightening of his muscles that parched his skin of life. His jaw was so hard I half expected to hear the crack that would signify the shattering of one of his perfect teeth. The tendons in his neck were strained so much it was like he'd been holding his breath for far too long and his lungs were close to collapsing. The same could be said for his shoulders, which through his fitted smoky grey t-shirt I could see the pull of tense muscles. But none of this, not separate or combined, compared with his eyes.

His brows had lowered in a line over his eyes. Instead of being a light, twinkling green, they looked murky; like the emeralds were sinking in dirty water. There were lines of pain or unhappiness or fear at the edges; his eyelashes looked clumped like he'd been crying but furiously wiped away the tears; and there was a dead way he stared at the carpet behind the couch instead of looking up at anyone that scared me so thoroughly I thought I might be shaking.

Vanessa gave me a slight bump with her elbow, and accidental or not, it jolted me in to action.

"You're here!" I tried to sound light hearted, but the tremor of fear was clear in my voice. "Let's get a drink. Back in a sec, guys," I strode to Edward, linked my arm with his and forcibly turned him from the room. Jasper and Alice were still twined so tightly that a piece of paper couldn't have had a chance of fitting between any parts of their bodies. Alice sobbed like she was crying.

What the hell is going on?

Heading for the door at the end of the hall which led to the backyard, Edward remained a step behind me the whole time and I felt that if I wasn't pulling on him to move, he'd probably have stood so still he'd be nothing more than a beautiful statue in Sam's home.

It hadn't escaped my attention that he had not yet spoken a word.

I shoved open the back door, barely registered the beauty of Sam's leafy green and serene backyard, and made a beeline for the loveseat which sat just out of reach of the lights from the house. I pushed Edward down first, and then sat on the edge of the chair, my whole body twisted to face him.

"Edward?" I said, and realised I was crying for some stupid, irrationally fearful reason. "What's going on?" I shifted closer to him and put a hand on his cheek, scared he was going to disappear.

I don't know whether it was the fact that we were alone, I'd finally said his name, or that my touching his face jerked him to reality; but Edward looked at me like surfacing from a daydream. Or a nightmare.

"Bella?" he choked, tears welling and spilling over his cheeks.

I nodded furiously and put my other hand on his face, wiping the tears away with my thumbs. I shifted even closer (though I didn't know how – I was already getting pins and needles in my legs from crushing them against him) and blubbered out, "I'm here, I'm here."

"Bella," he whispered, the emeralds beginning to return to the surface of whatever black abyss they'd fallen in to. "I died, Bella, I'm dead. You're not meant to be dead, why are you here?"

He died? What? What?!

"I'm not dead, you're not dead, Edward!" I said, trying to smile despite my uncontrollable fear. It didn't work and I sucked in a huge breath to try and steady myself. "What happened?"

I knew now that something must have happened – for Alice to be so tense before the boys arrived and for her to leap on Jasper like he was returning from a war where he ought to have died was so far out of character it was in a different galaxy.

"We were driving," he started, his eyes unfocusing as he thought back. "We were travelling here along the highway. Jasper was driving. His phone started ringing so he pulled over 'cos Alice's name came up on the ID. He wanted to talk to her.

"He parked the car but left the engine running. The lights were still on. I heard Alice on the line; she was crying and screaming at him, so he got out to talk to her. He went round the back of the car and I could see him in the mirror next to me. So I waited in the car and started playing games on my phone.

"Ten minutes later he hadn't come back, so I looked in the rear vision mirror. He wasn't there. I tried the other mirrors but I couldn't see him so I got out. I called and called but I couldn't see him. I was about fifty feet from the car when I heard it. Then there was this noise, like a foghorn, and I turned around.

"I could see from the orange lights on the top it was a truck. It was honking, and swerving, like the driver couldn't see. 'The lights,' I thought. 'Jasper left the high beams on.' So I ran back to the car to turn them off, but the truck was too fast… I was nearly at the car but I didn't make it… The truck came across the lines and he hit me. I felt it go through me, the grill of the truck… the speed… I felt every bone in my body break and fall to the ground… I didn't get up.

"Jasper came outta nowhere. 'How are you still alive?' he kept saying. 'How are you still alive? I saw the truck hit you!' I got up and I was fine. No blood, no anything. Nothing, Bella, it was like I just tripped and fell! A truck fucking hit me full-on and there's not a scratch on me!"

He was silent, staring at his hands in his lap. I let mine slip away from his face – not consciously, but I was so shocked by this that I couldn't control my limbs.

"You were hit by a truck?" I whispered, not caring about the tears gathering at the point of my chin. "You should be dead," I choked on the words as they came out. "But you're not dead."

He looked back at me, and simply stared before his hands whipped up and seized my face. "I love you, Isabella, you must always know that. I'll never love anyone close to how much I love you."

Then he pulled me to him and hugged me so tightly I felt like my bones might crack, but even though I was this close to him I wanted to be closer. I put my arms around his neck, and without worrying about anything except the man holding me so tightly, I hugged him like he was my only anchor to the world.

I hid my face between his shoulder and neck, breathing only the air saturated with his warm skin, and felt that he was doing the same. I felt his lips and nose touch the spot just below my ear a few times, but didn't stir. He held me tighter each time he did this, and I returned the gesture. It was a long while before we moved – but when we did, I swung my legs around from kneeling on the chair and put them over his lap. He had one arm just below my shoulder blades, and had the other across my stomach. I had one hand behind his head, fiddling with his hair, and the other alternated between resting against his chest and wiping the lessening tears from his face.

"I'd have missed you terribly," I said, believing that honesty was best, and that letting him get everything off his chest was the right thing to do. "If you'd… gone." I knew he knew what I meant.

He smiled and raised his hand from my stomach, touching the hollows beneath my eyes gently. His thumb traced across, gathering the tears there, and lifted them away from my face. As I watched; and if I hadn't seen him do it I would not have believed it; he put the tear pool slightly blackened by mascara to his mouth and licked his finger clean.

I giggled. "You're so weird."

He leaned forward and touched his nose to mine, sincere adoration clear in his eyes. I imagined my expression mirrored his but with less beauty.

"I don't know how I could keep going if you were to die, Bella. I don't think I would."

"You'd be fine. Just go back to whatever it was you did before I complicated your existence."

He chuckled humourlessly. "I can't remember what I did before you. It seems too long ago."

"That makes two of us," I leaned forward and gently touched my lips to his. "We should get back. Everyone'll think we're getting up to no good."

He laughed. "Well, we'll just have to let them think that, won't we?"

"Oh?"

"Hold still," he leaned forward, and I watched as he reached up and gently pulled a few strands of hair loose from the 'do Alice'd done, letting them drape around my face. "There. You look like you've just been gallivanting in the bushes with some no good teenage hormone bag."

"A male hormone bag, I hope."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't mind either way."

I laughed and hit his shoulder with the back of my hand. "You wish." I got up and straightened my dress.

Edward's breath tickled my ear before he spoke from right behind me. His hands wrapped around my middle as he spoke. "I want you all for myself, little lady…"

"Who're you calling 'little'?" I challenged, turning in his arms. It was pointless to argue that I was bigger than him in any way – especially when standing this close, but as his mood lightened and his eyes breathed fireworks into mine again, my bones felt warmer and spongier than ever.

"Come now, Bella. You know perfectly well that I could bench press you and not break a sweat."

I got a mental image of that rather… 'nice' scenario, and blushed deeply.

"I was just thinking the same thing," he said huskily, and leaned down to kiss me deeply.

My whole body was rendered useless as I fell limply in his arms. The only action I was capable of was to kiss him back breathlessly, and for my hands to trace lines on every part of his head and shoulders I could reach. He lifted me from the ground so my toes were dangling by his knees, and I had much better access to his kisses.

When we broke apart, both subtly inhaling as much air as possible, I touched a hand over my heart to feel it thud happily along.

Edward pulled back and looked me up and down for the first time. "Silk, I like it."

"Because it's easier to get on and off?" I joked.

He smiled crookedly, and my heart actually stopped for a few beats. "You said it, not me."

"You've a hormone ruled mind, Edward Anthony," I said cheekily.

"How'd you know my middle name?" He said, sliding one arm around my back and starting across the lawn back to the house.

"Esme," I said simply, thinking of the excellent times I'd spent pouring over Edward's baby photos at his home without his knowledge.

Edward thought about that. "Did she show you the one where my hair was-"

"-in a Mohawk when you were five? Yes, I might've seen it once or twice." I might also have my own copy at home… "Very cute, you should try it again some time."

He glowered sideways as we stepped up on the wooden porch. I was able to now appreciate Sam's backyard. Like the inner of the house, everything was dark stained wood and earthy colours. There was a large fishpond to the left of the backdoor, built in to the wooden decking, and around it were chest high ferns and various other items of greenery. Garden lights shone upwards in to the trees and plants, and under the water too, so whenever a fish would dart through the water or the wind rustled the tree leaves, the place ironically screamed 'peace'.

We went back inside to the lounge, and found that Emmett and Rosalie had arrived. They were talking with Sam and Leah – Rosalie sitting beside Leah and Emmett sitting on the coffee table opposite her. They both waved when Edward and I came in.

Alice, Jasper, Sarah and Paul were all talking together; and Vanessa was telling a story to Jared and Kim, if her erratic hand movements were anything to go by. I waved to my cousin, then steered Edward straight to Sarah for introductions.

"Edward, Sarah," I said when there was a break in conversation.

Edward laughed. "Paul introduced me the day after they started dating."

"Oh, right," I said, feeling silly. Of course they knew each other – these people were Edward's crew, after all. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise," Paul said, leaning back slightly. "Edward, Sarah, officially meet each other now. You only really met by accident before." I didn't miss how his volume went down as the sentence went on, or how he averted his eyes at the memory.

"Excuse me?" I said to Edward, who'd just let go of Sarah's hand.

"Pleased to meet you," she said to him.

"And you." Always the gentleman.

"Edward," I persisted, knowing he was ignoring me for a reason. "What happened the first time you and Sarah met?"

Sarah started laughing then. "What?" I smiled, but I knew he understood my impatience. And my stubbornness.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, defeated. "Paul brought her 'round my house, but he didn't tell me she was coming, so I didn't frake mown da kitcher ov wern I woz fress muppat rowmoy…"

I blanched. "Say what?"

Paul cracked up laughing as Edward tried to turn and leave the room, but I dug my nails in to his forearm as I snatched him back. Sam and Leah gave me the details I wanted.

"When Edward was little, he went through this phase of loving certain things. There was a cowboy phase in which he would run around the house in his cowboy boots, hat and gun belt."

"What's wrong with that?"

"That was all he wore," Leah grinned like the shining sun at Edward, who was glaring something terrible at her. "Esme put it up on the wall by the stairs so you can see it when you go upstairs."

"And that was the first impression of Edward I ever got," Sarah added cheekily.

I looked at Edward. "I've never seen this picture, Edward. Why have I not seen this picture?"

"I take it down every time you're coming around," he rolled his eyes and sighed. "I guess this means you're going to be wanting to see it?"

"Hell yes!"

"Thanks for that little A-bomb, guys. I owe you one," he said to his Port Angeles gang in general. They all cracked up laughing again, and I could see Edward starting to smile. They knew they were forgiven.

"Hey Bella," Jasper threw in once everyone was reduced to wiping laughter tears from their eyes. "Maybe Edward will dress up for you in that costume again…?"

"Hey Jasper, do you have a death wish?" Edward challenged playfully.

"Naturally, I'm dating Ali aren't I?"

"Oooh, BURN Alice!" Leah laughed while Alice smacked Jasper upside the head.

Alice then whispered something in Jasper's ear, to which he blanched. Alice then laughed like the sound of tiny bells and skipped out of the room, Jasper in tow, pleading with her.

"You can't give a man pleasure like that and just take it away, Alice! That's sooo not fair!"

"Your problem," she laughed before she disappeared out of view, Jasper following after.

"Well," Sam said, standing up. "I'm being a terrible host. I should find my favourite birthday present and show it to everyone for conversational purposes." He looked at the gifts sitting around the room; from the discarded wrapping paper to the expensive watch, CD's, clothing items, and a new set of keys to something that was probably expensive sitting on the coffee table, then yelled "Aha! Found it!" And he scooped Leah up in his arms and walked from the room, shouting, "Best present ever!"

I was caught somewhere between a laugh and a throat swellingly big "awwww". Most of the girls were grinning in the stupid way I was.

"Shall we attack the un-spiked punch?" Edward offered.

"Sure." I put my arm around his back and with his around my waist we whittled the night away in peace.

It seemed like a mere half hour later that Sam was going throughout the crowded house, yelling for everyone to either pack up their stuff and go because it was nearly two in the morning; or to find somewhere comfortable in the house and pack it in for the night. "…and if a door's locked, it's locked for a reason!" he called to those heading for the stairs.

"Are you ready to go?" Edward breathed in my ear, making me shiver.

"Sure. I'll just say goodbye to everyone first."

I would be sleeping at Edward's house for the first time tonight. It was going to be fantastic. Vanessa was staying at Sam's with Alice and everyone else – they'd already claimed the two sofa beds in the lounge, so every other guest was going to have to work around that.

I repeated goodbyes to Alice, Vanessa, Jasper, Leah, Rosalie, Emmett, Jared, Kim, Paul, Sarah and Sam before Edward and I finally left. The short car ride to his house was happily tense – the both of us must've been thinking about picnic-related happenings. I know I was, at least. We finally reached Edward's house, and though I'd seen it before it still looked beautiful in the darkness.

It was quite big, but not excessively so; it reminded me of the house in the Madeline film. Tall and flat with vines creeping all over the front and a lovely stained glass front door. The whole thing looked like it was made of marble (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was).

There was a roundabout driveway of white stones around the front of the house, but Edward didn't follow it; he went down the side to the garage out the back. It was a four car garage and three of those spaces were already filled. His Volvo slid in easily.

I didn't know what kinds of cars the rest of them were – but there was a black VW hatchback, a red convertible with the Porsche symbol and a dark grey sedan that looked a bit like Edward's car.

"Why so many?" I asked him as he got my things from the backseat.

He looked up and saw that I was gesturing to the cars. "Esme and Carlisle deserve a little luxury," he grinned to show he was just being cheeky. "I dunno, really; the VW Golf if Esme's because she doesn't like driving biggish cars, the Porsche is Carlisle's baby and he uses the S40 for work and stuff."

I assumed the 'S40' was the dark car on the end.

"Righto. One truck is all I'll ever need."

Edward scoffed and mumbled something under his breath, but didn't repeat it when I said "What was that?" He also refused to allow me to carry any of my things inside – I only had one overnight bad and a pillow – but that's not the point.

We walked through the laundry between the garage door and the kitchen, still squabbling over who was to carry my things, and spilled in to the kitchen making a little more noise than strictly necessary. We needn't have worried about waking Edward's parents, however, because they were both sitting at the kitchen counter with hot mugs of something in their hands when we walked in.

Fortunately, I wasn't about to face the Spanish Inquisition because they were both smiling and welcoming.

"Bella!" Esme said happily, hopping down from her chair to hug me. She smelled like soapy bubbles and vanilla – the same way Edward did when he was fresh from the shower. I banished shower related thoughts of Edward before they could show on my face. "How are you?" she said like it wasn't quarter to two in the morning and she wasn't in fluffy slippers and a bath robe. She was more like an adult friend than my boyfriend's mother.

"I'm good, a little tired but still good," I smiled. "Hey Principal Cullen," I waved over her shoulder to Carlisle, who still had his hands wrapped around the cup of hot chocolate (I could smell it now).

"Call me Carlisle," he said all of a thousand times. He smiled like I was an old friend. "Would you like a cup?" he said when I looked down at his mug again.

"Well…" I looked at Edward to see how tired he looked. He seemed okay, and nodded for me to have one if I wanted. I decided against it, though the smell was starting to make my tastebuds rebel. "I really shouldn't. I'd love one tomorrow morning, though, if it's cold…?"

Carlisle smiled. "Sure thing."

"You're sure?" Esme said, very motherly in her manners. "It'll only take a minute."

"No, no, thank you for the offer but I should get through the bathroom and go to sleep soon. I've still got homework tomorrow, after all," I added before thinking about the presence of my principal.

"Where's Bella sleeping?" Edward asked, though I thought I was sleeping in his room on the carpet tonight. There'd have been no way I would allow Edward to give up his bed for me. Apparently I was mistaken.

"We were thinking she could sleep in the master bedroom next to Esme, and I could sleep in the guest room next to your room," Carlisle said, speaking to both of us except the last two words, which were directed to Edward only.

"Bella?" Edward asked, and he didn't have to say more than that. I knew he was checking if those arrangements were okay with me.

"No problem. As long as you don't snore," I added cheekily to Esme, going for a light elbow-to-the-ribs jab.

Esme scoffed. "I don't snore. That's just Trumpet Boy over there," she said, waving a hand at her husband. I started laughing as Carlisle chuckled under his breath.

"At least I don't steal the sheets," Carlisle returned.

"Ugh, guys, bedroom habits are not to be spoken of in the kitchen," Edward said, sticking a tongue out at this information. Then he looked at me and I knew what was coming next. "Besides, Bella's sleep talking tops them all."

Carlisle blanched. "You've- I- What? How do you know what she does when she sleeps?!"

Edward rolled his eyes at his father, easily sidetracking the sure blow-up. "She fell asleep at lunch a week ago. It was very amusing."

"Oh," Carlisle said, pleased that his son hadn't been getting lucky without his knowing. Or with his knowing.

I thought about that day last week. The night before I'd had a dream that Alice said she didn't want to talk to me ever again, then she morphed in to Jasper… Edward… every one of my friends right down to Vanessa, and each one of them told me I was a horrible person and that they wanted nothing to do with me ever again. The rest of the night I was tossing and turning and crying, trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep. The dark circles under my eyes made me look like I'd broken my nose.

"You two had best get ready for bed then," Esme said, heading back to climb on to her seat beside Carlisle. She reached for her mug and took a gulp. "Let us know when you're ready to go to sleep."

Edward and I smiled and bowed out. On the way up the stairs, I noticed for the first time where there was a portrait missing.

"Gee," I said in a very fake voice. "I wonder where the picture that used to be here on the wall went?"

Edward glowered. "I'll show you in the morning." Then he hopped a few steps in front of me and I heard him mutter something like, "If you remember," under his breath. I just laughed.

Ten minutes later I'd changed out of the dark peach dress and brown gladiator heels, rid my face of makeup except the eyeliner I couldn't get off, and let my hair down from the millions of hairpins that'd been holding it up. Fortunately, no hairpin headache attacked me.

I kissed Edward goodnight for longer than was really necessary, though it still felt like too short of a time to me. It took three attempts at leaving the room only to fall back for another kiss before I was on the other side of the door to Edward, and Esme was accompanying me down the hall to the master bedroom.

We passed the open door of the spare room where Carlisle was laying on the bed, reading with glasses on the end of his nose, and I almost fell over. I stopped dead, actually – but that didn't look too weird as Esme stopped to go in and kiss him goodnight anyway.

Carlisle didn't have a shirt on. I felt like I was cheating on Edward just by looking at him – but then I reminded myself who I was ogling and purposefully looked away. I could see where Edward got his washboard abs from.

Esme came back a moment later, and I waved goodnight to Carlisle with a blush in my cheeks. A minute later I climbed in beside Esme in the huge king sized bed and lay back on the comfortable mattress.

"Goodnight, Bella," Esme said as she reached for the light switch.

"Goodnight," I said as it flicked off, and the room went dark apart from the light beams of moonlight through the lacy curtains either side of the bed.

I fell asleep soon after that; the only disturbance during my night was a rather vivid dream involving Jasper's phone call from Alice, Edward's searching for him on the side of a highway and a blinded truck driver hitting the only person I would literally die without. But somehow I didn't wake up screaming – I woke to the ringing silence of an unfamiliar room.

And in the morning I remembered nothing.

- - -

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling very well-rested. However, when I recalled where I was, I sat bolt upright in the bed and hoped like anything that Edward hadn't snuck in during the night. If either of his parents found out, I doubted they'd be as understanding as they usually were.

However, Edward was nowhere in the room, Esme was still fast asleep beside me and I could see through the laced windows that the sun was only just rising. Usually I would have gone back to sleep but this morning I got up, pulled on the jumper Edward had given to me ages ago and tiptoed out of the room.

As I looked over my shoulder to make sure Esme wasn't waking up, I walked straight in to the door. Somehow Esme slept through the bang of forehead on wood and my breathy cursing as I left the room.

I crept down the hall to Edward's room to see if he was awake yet. He'd left the door half-open so I didn't have to move it to slip in.

Though it was darker in Edward's room, I could still see by the sunlight creeping between the cracks of his curtains. Immediately to my right when I went in the door was the dresser where Leah had found an album of Edward's baby pictures when I'd first come here. Along the right hand side of the room was literally a wall of CD's and DVD's with a recently acquired plasma television fastened in a space, and a stereo system just below it.

Edward's bed was flanked by two long windows (currently with the curtains drawn) that gave a view across his back yard. His spacious en suite bathroom was through a door to the right, but that was closed at the moment.

And my gorgeous boyfriend himself was sprawled across the bed, face down, with the comforter draped across his hips and below. One foot was hanging sideways off the mattress and out from under the golden blanket. He didn't have a shirt on, so I edged closer to the bed and enjoyed the view of the ropes of muscle on his back… the narrow pull of his hips… the way his skin seemed to glow golden in the small level of light…

Then he groaned and lifted himself just enough to turn his head the other way so he was facing me, and I heard a sigh before he was still once more.

Edward's face when he was awake was something worth recording in pictures, video, words, drawings and especially in memory because he was so heart breakingly good looking it almost made me cry at the thought of never seeing his face again. However, in sleep, all the tiny little lines of stress and minor problems fell away. I kneeled beside the bed and just looked at him with my hands across my nose and mouth like I were praying. My eyes started to well up as I just stared.

It would have been a few minutes later when I felt my legs start to cramp. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I stood up and walked out of the room, attempting both to watch Edward's beauty and keep an eye on where I was going. Just as I slipped through the door I looked back at him one more time.

I surely hadn't done anything to merit this degree of good fortune in my life.

Downstairs, I made myself some cereal and a glass of juice. I didn't want to turn on the television because my luck would ensure that the previous user had had the volume very loud; and besides, morning television was usually unworthy of watching anyway.

So instead I wandered around the bottom floor of the house and looked at the pictures Esme and Carlisle had up. There were a lot of Edward, some of Edward's former mother and father who were actually his aunty and uncle, and heaps of Carlisle and Esme. While looking at a picture of their wedding I wondered why Edward had dyed his hair blonde – before I realised it was Carlisle. Really, how could anyone not have seen the similarities between Edward and his real father? Denial can do a lot to a person's sensibilities. So can fear. And love.

I heard the sound of Edward yawning himself awake when the sun was half an hour above the horizon. There were the sounds of his blinds being drawn, then a tap running and a splash to indicate he was in the bathroom. Then there was some pacing about his room before I heard him quietly padding down the stairs. I guessed he thought I was still asleep.

"Good morning," I said from a kitchen stool when he appeared.

He grinned and made a beeline for me. He hadn't put a shirt on, much to my approval.

"Good morning beautiful, how did you sleep?" He picked me up and spun me in a hug. I was grateful that I'd brushed my teeth already when he leaned down and kissed me.

"I slept well. You?"

"Not good enough without you there." He grinned like a naughty child, and I knew he was thinking dirty thoughts.

"Sicko," I laughed, then gently pushed his chest with one hand. "Eat something," I said to stop the hyperventilation that threatened. His chest was made entirely of muscle. His body was like touching hardened silk.

He hummed while he dug around for the ingredients for eggs on toast. "And what can I make for you?" he asked once the eggs were in the pan and the bread was waiting to be pushed down in the toaster.

I held up one hand, palm forward. "I've eaten already. Though I wouldn't say no to a small glass of juice if you have it…?"

"Coming right up." He swept the glass in front of me across in to his hand, rinsed it, then got out the Sunny D and poured me another half-glass. "That alright?" he asked. I nodded and he pushed it across the countertop to me.

"Good party last night, wasn't it?" I asked him idly, tracing patterns on the frosty glass in my hands.

"Yeah it was. I haven't seen some of those people in absolutely ages," he said, turning to flip his eggs.

"I thought you saw them a lot during the week?"

"Not those guys, I mean the ones I would have only seen at school." He pushed down his toast. "Kinda like… if you were to move schools, you wouldn't see someone like Jacob much anymore." He was watching my reaction a little too closely.

"Are you trying to see whether I'd miss someone like Jacob, Edward?"

"No…" he said, very badly trying to his intention.

I rolled my eyes. "Jacob's a friend, if anything. We don't talk much any more."

"And is that because of me?" He looked worried now, like he'd actually done something wrong.

"Don't be ridiculous. You may have been a catalyst for the eventual breaking off of our small chats, but it's not your fault Jacob can be a jerk. Besides, he and Vanessa hate each other."

"Why is that, by the way?"

"Why do they hate each other? I don't know. I think they're just too similar. Hard-headed and competitive."

Edward pulled his toast from the toaster and buttered it. "I don't know that that's it. I think there's more to it."

"Like?"

"I'm not sure. It just seems like the two of them are determined to get away from each other before they say something they'll regret."

"I'm sure they've already said plenty to each other they'll regret."

It was Edward's turn to roll his eyes. "That's not really what I mean. They bait each other up a lot of the time, and I think they only rise to that bait because what they say to each other is a load of old tosh-"

"'Old tosh'?"

"It's an English saying. Shut up, I have relatives over there."

"Whatever, nancy boy."

"Anyway. I think they only go for the insults because they both know what they say isn't true. If they said something that was true… well, I think they'd regret it."

I stood up and stretched. "Whatever, Edward. As soon as you walked in without a shirt on I was completely distracted. But now I'm confused too."

He sighed and dug in to his eggs and toast. "You'll understand when you see it."

"Mmhmm."

"But that's not the point. I was trying to get at this; I think you should spend some time with Jacob. Help him out. I haven't been at Forks High for that long but I can see he misses Jasper's company. And yours too, probably. Make an effort to see him."

"That wouldn't be a problem except for this; I like spending my time with you. And when I'm not with you, I'm with Alice. Or the Homework Monster."

"Well, I have a solution for that. In a few weeks time Alice and I are going to a running competition in Seattle. There're only a few people from the state going, and since Ali and I won at the interschool thing last year, we got offered places. We could get scholarships."

"Scholarships? Wicked. You should do it, for sure."

"Good. Then, why don't you spend some of that time with Jacob? We'll be gone for four days during the week, so do some homework or something with him. It's not for a while so you can start talking to him now, then invite him to hang out when it's not completely random."

"Yes sir," I joked, heading for the stairs. "I'm going for a shower. Don't interrupt!"

"You'll thank me for it later!" He called as I reached the stairs, regard for his parent's sleeping patterns all gone.

I was about to yell back but decided not to – besides, I wasn't sure what part of my words his reply was meant for. And though I would like to think I'd be mad at him if he busted down the door while I was in the shower – I knew I'd probably get so distracted by his chest again that I'd end up pulling him, fully clothed, in the shower with me.

However, when I passed the spare room and saw Carlisle making his bed, I knew any hopes of a morning rendezvous in the bathroom were gone.

- - -

**ALICE BRANDON**

I woke up the next morning sprawled across the couch in Emmett's theatre room. Leah, Paul and I had been watching Napoleon Dynamite into the early hours of the morning when we fell asleep.

Jasper, who actually needs to sleep in order to function, had gone to bed shortly after Bella and Edward left. Sam, Jared, Vanessa, Emmett, Rosalie and Kim had stayed in the lounge where Jasper was sure to sleep like a log no matter the noise, and I'm sure they would have quietened down out of guilt for him. Paul's girlfriend, Sarah, drove herself home. Her parents were iffy about her having a boyfriend – so there was no way she was allowed to have Paul over to her house for the night.

I got up and stretched, then opened the blinds to let in some light. Paul and Leah both groaned and rolled over, away from the window, whining something about the light hurting.

"Get up!" I scolded, whacking Paul's legs with my pillow. "The light's not gonna hurt you 'cos you're not a vampire! Get up!"

Paul just snatched my pillow and held it over his head. Leah kept trying to roll away from the light and fell off the side of her armchair in to the shade provided by the furniture.

"Slackers," I laughed, opening the door to the hall and walking out. The theatre room was right next to Sam's bedroom, so I knew my bearings. I went down the stairs and across the entrance hall to the lounge, where both of the pull-out couches were in use. The one across the room had Jared and Kim in it, their hands holding one another and their noses were inches away. To my right Rosalie and Emmett were curled around each other on the carpet by the bookshelf. Though it was my brother – the two of them still looked cute. I carefully stepped over a body in a sleeping bag by the door, then looked around for Jasper.

I screamed.

"JASPER! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"

Because there, lying on the mattress protruding from the couch closest to me, was my very own Jasper Whitlock. Only he wasn't alone. He was facing me, and between the two of us Vanessa lay. Jasper had his arms around her waist, and hers over the top of his – and though they were in different sleeping bags, the gesture had 'we made out' all over it.

I felt my heart curl in around itself, and I remembered in a moment all the cruel pranks Jasper had played on me over the years. The name-calling, the teasing, the stealing of my things, the public humiliation… but none of it, not one alone or all stacked together, hurt as much as the mere thought of him having had his lips wrapped around some other girl.

As soon as my harsh voice broke through the previously peaceful morning air, Jasper shot upright and jolted so violently that he actually fell on to the floor. Instead of laughing and helping him to get up, I rushed around the end of the couch (taking care not to step on Rosalie) and stood on Jasper's fingers instead.

I knew I wasn't hurting him because I unfortunately wasn't wearing my boots – but he didn't pull his hand away. He looked up at me, shocked.

"We need to talk. Now," I hissed, turning on his hand and heading to the stairs. When I was halfway up, I checked to see if he was following. He skidded across the floorboards on his socks, pulling a shirt over his head while he ran. I stiffly kept walking.

Sam's room was the first empty one I came across, so I went in there. Jasper didn't say anything when he came in after me.

"Shut the door," I said shortly over my shoulder.

He obliged, then waited for me to say something. I didn't. So he broke the silence.

"Alice, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What the fuck do you think is wrong, Jasper?!"

He looked completely lost.

"Do I need to spell it out for you? Fine. I came down the stairs and walked in the lounge. I saw Jared and Kim sleeping beside each other. I saw Rosalie and Emmett sleeping next to one another. Then I look at you and see you sleeping next to Vanessa. What am I meant to think? Hmm? Because if there's some kind of protocol I'm meant to follow I didn't get the memo."

"I don't– What? Nothing happened between Vanessa and me." He stepped forward and stretched his arms, reaching for me. I cringed away and saw the hurt on his face. Vindictively, it felt nice to make him feel some portion of the pain I felt right now.

"You slept in the same bed as her, Jasper! I don't care what you say to make that better, you still did it. I thought you were better than that. Do you have a reason for this?"

He shook his head. I didn't know whether that was in disbelief or directed to me, but I took it as an answer either way.

"You can't even stand up for yourself. Say something! Tell me you're sorry! Tell me you regret it!" I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to stop myself from kicking and biting my frustrations in to him. "I called you and saved your life last night, and this is what you go and do? Maybe I should have let that fucking truck wipe your car off the road."

He sat down on Sam's bed and put his head in his hands. I knew I'd gone a bit far with the truck thing – even if I still hated him like I did a year ago I wouldn't have wished him dead. But I was angry. My whole body twitched, wanting to sit beside him and hug him and tell him it was all okay, but I stopped myself. Anger was the dominant emotion at the moment.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I don't understand what you're so angry with me for. She's just my friend!"

I turned away from him because the tears were catching up. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. "If she was just your friend, then I wouldn't see you looking at her the way you do. There's something more. Have the decency to tell me!"

"I don't have feelings for her!"

"I don't believe you." I still hadn't turned back to him. "I can see that little sparkle in your eye when you look at her across the lunch table sometimes."

He stood up again and put his hands on the back of his head like he was stretching. I knew it was a sign he was mad. Probably because he'd been caught out.

"It's the lighting or something, Alice. I do not 'sparkle' at her! She's Bella's cousin – your friend – my friend! Nothing more, nothing less."

"Nothing less, huh?"

He knew I was baiting him. "What can I say to make you believe me?"

"There is nothing you can do to 'make' me believe you." I laughed, but the sound had no humour, because something new had just occurred to me. I turned to read his expression easier. "It's typical, really. Guys are always trying to fix everything as quick as possible – never wanting to take the time to work on a problem. Like a bandaid. All those sitcoms have finally given me some knowledge worth remembering."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I raised my eyebrows, then wiped my eyes from elbow to wrist. "Trust you to play the dumb card now."

"No, really. I'm lost."

"You don't want to work things out with me. Was this some way to get me to break up with you, because you don't have the balls to do it yourself?"

"Alice, no–"

"Can it, Jasper." I walked the three paces to him and stood as close as I dared. He was furious – I could see that easily, but not the kind of furious that got him in to fist fights. It was something different. "Do it," I whispered, sucking a tear in my mouth. "Break up with me. Do it now, while I'm right here and ready for it."

He reached up a hand to my cheek. "No."

I took a long step back before his skin touched mine. I wanted to speak, scold him, scream and shout and make everyone downstairs think I was skinning him alive, but I couldn't do it. The hurt was too constricting.

I looked up at him, tears everywhere. "Why did you have your arms around her?"

"I don't know. I probably thought she was you … I dream about you so much I wouldn't be surprised if that were the reason."

"Bullshit," I said, turning away again. He sounded like a bad daytime TV show. I wanted to protect my heart from this – it was raw and red and if I let him have it again, one more ounce of pain would blacken it. I needed time to heal – and for me, 'healing' required an initial dose of 'hating'.

"Alice," he began, but I cut him off.

"Don't. I need to be alone right now."

I whipped around and without looking at him again I flew from the room and headed for the guest's bathroom. There was a radio in there, so after the door was securely locked behind me I turned it right up high and kept surfing stations 'till I found something that wasn't serenading love songs.

And I let myself cry.

- - -

About six songs later I heard a knock on the door. It wasn't loud enough to be a boy, so I turned down the radio and hoped one of my girls was on the other side of the wall.

"Who is it?" I said, trying to sound normal.

"It's Bella. Do you want to talk?"

I didn't answer, instead I pulled open the door so furiously it might have broken if I'd let it swing back and hit the wall. I pulled Bella in before anyone else could have a chance at slipping in too, and locked the door behind her. I saw Edward's head disappear down the stairs, and I was sure he was going to update the others.

"Oh Alice," Bella said, catching me in a hug. She smelt like berries and milk; like a fresh shower. I probably needed a shower. I started blubbering again, probably ruining her shirt, and she hugged me tighter. It felt good to have someone understand the value of physical comfort.

We eventually sat down on the edge of the bathtub. "Okay, talk. Tell me everything. Get it all off your chest and feel free to kick and scream if you need to."

She got up and turned up the radio so someone on the other side of the door wouldn't be able to understand much. I loved her for that.

"I woke up and went downstairs to see Jasper. When I went in the lounge, all the couples were sleeping next to each other. Jasper and Vanessa were sharing one of the pull-out beds. So I woke him up and stood on his hand and we went upstairs and fought. I started crying. I told him I thought he had feelings for Vanessa and he denied it, but I could tell there was something more. I was crying like hell before you came along," I wiped my face and made an attempt to laugh.

"You have every right to be mad, Alice. I would be too. And crying always helps." She reached over and picked up the tissue box. "Kleenex your life away."

I spluttered feebly and grabbed a couple of tissues. I wiped my face and blew my nose, but as soon as one tear was removed another filled its place. I kept dabbing at my face.

"Did anything happen between them?"

"He said it didn't."

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't know. I never thought something like this would ever happen. Maybe I'm wrong about him. Maybe he's the asshole he used to be and he's just trying to humiliate me."

"Don't talk nonsense," Bella scoffed. "He changed. There's no way he'd humiliate you – he would have his ass kicked by multiple feet and he knows it."

I blanched as a previous thought struck me again, but with more force. I wanted to throw up but had nothing in my stomach to do so with. "Bella, he doesn't like me any more. He wants to break up with me." I started hyperventilating.

She gasped. "Did he say this?"

"I made a motion with my head that could have been a nod or a shake. "Not in as many words." I grabbed some more tissues and pressed down on my eyelids, willing myself to wake up from the nightmare I was stuck in.

"Jasper's not quite stupid enough to do that. I think he feels for you more than he realises, actually."

"I've seen him ogling Vanessa at lunch times," I announced unhappily.

Bella gasped. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"But he would never… Vanessa would never… they both know the magnitude of the bruises I would give them…" She trailed off, muttering possible punishments under her breath.

We were silent for a minute or so, the both of us listening without hearing the garbled nonsense streaming from the radio.

"Is this song in German?" I asked, momentarily distracted.

Bella didn't answer my question. "You need to get some food in to you. And you look like hell."

"Thanks," I laughed, trying to inject some humour in to the room. And situation.

"Stay here. I'll get your toiletries bag, then you can have a shower. I'll make Jasper disappear while you have breakfast, okay? If you want to talk to him before we leave you can. But he won't be there while you eat."

I smiled and started to regain composure. "Okay. Shower, breakfast, leave. In that order. I can do this."

"Back in a minute." Then she dashed out the door. I waited for a few minutes for her to come back with a towel and my toiletries bag, examining my reflection in the mirror. My eyeliner and mascara were making terribly emo lines down my face and my foundation looked hideous after being on for so long. I cursed myself for getting angry with Jasper and letting him see me in such a state. At least I was wearing pyjamas and not wrinkled party clothes – strawberry flannel pants and a green cotton tank.

Bella returned with the promised spoils in her hands. "Don't be too long," she said before she disappeared.

So I got under the shower water and wondered whether I wanted to speak to Jasper or not.

- - -

**ISABELLA SWAN**

It took me ten minutes of reasoned talking and thirty seconds of Emmett's threatening before Jasper agreed to wait for Alice to request his company. I had Emmett block the staircase just in case – but Jasper went outside to the garage to admire Sam's cars with Edward's companionship while he waited so I felt secure that Alice wouldn't get an unwanted bathroom visitor. I told Jasper that he was not to come back unless called; and I told Edward that I would kick both their butts if that condition was broken. Edward sealed it with a kiss.

I didn't even need to instruct everyone else that opinions and questions on the situation would be met by a blunt object colliding with a limb.

I made Alice a fruit salad and poured her a glass of cold water before she came down the stairs. Her face was clean, eyes wary, hair damp and spiky and she had a mint green spaghetti strap dress on. How unfair that she looks so good at this time of the morning.

"Feel better?" I asked her as she sat at the dining table.

"A bit." Then she dug in to her breakfast with a light "Thanks".

When she was done, I took her bowl. She moved from the table to lean over the kitchen island. "I think I'd like to talk to him."

I looked over at Leah. "Would you mind getting the boys, please?"

"Sure." She went out the back door and returned a minute later with Edward and Jasper in tow.

To me, Alice looked a little scary. She seemed completely at ease on the surface – but I could tell she was like a shaken up bottle of soft drink with the lid barely screwed on. It wouldn't take much for her to blow.

"Alice?" Jasper said when he came in. He clearly didn't know where he stood with her.

"Shall we go for a walk outside?" she said lightly. Jasper nodded, so Alice turned and headed for the front door. Everyone watched them go. As soon as the door closed behind him whispered conversations erupted like fireworks. Edward came by my side and put his hand around my back.

"I need some air," I said to him. "Want to come outside?"

"Sure." He turned to the room at large – though no one was paying attention to us. "We're going out the back," he said to no one in particular. Paul waved to show he'd heard, so we left.

"Holy crap," I said as soon as we were out of earshot of everyone. I sat down cross-legged beside the fish pond. Edward sank down on my right, his knees by his chin. "This is huge." I stared into the water at the orange and white fish.

"No kidding."

"What'd Jasper say?"

"That he regrets it. And he's terrified of losing her." He sighed. "I didn't know what to say… there's no way to fix this."

I looked at him with an eyebrow raised, surprised. "'Fix?' What do you mean by that? There's no way to trick him in to forgiving her."

"He wants there to be a way to get things back to the way they were."

"Hmph. Of course he does." I looked away, grumpy now. "Alice was right," I mumbled under my breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I didn't know whether he was referring to my mumbling, so I pretended he wasn't. "Well, he's a guy. Of course he wants there to be a quick-fix. He can't possibly work through the problem, even though it'll probably make them a stronger couple."

"If they survive it."

"See! That's just what I mean. Guys are so pessimistic!"

"That's a pretty general statement, Bella."

"That's because it's true."

"Guys are not pessimistic."

I just grunted.

"Whatever. That has nothing to do with anything." He paused. "If guys are pessimistic, girls overreact."

I rounded so sharply I almost fell on to him. "What? Are you suggesting Alice is overreacting about this?"

His jaw clenched. "Maybe."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused."

"Oh!" I screamed, standing up. "You–, you– Argh! I can't think of a word bad enough!"

"Probably because you're overreacting and you can't think straight." He stood up too, and I instantly lost my height advantage.

"I can't think straight? You're infuriating!" I seethed at him for a minute.

He stared back without saying anything, defiant. The air around us was unusually cold – a far cry from the usual heart warming air he carried. By the look on his face and the steel of his eyes, I saw a small part of just how frightening Edward could be.

I finally sighed, resigning. I would never win a war of silence nor a staring contest against Edward.

"This is stupid," I said quietly. "This isn't our fight. There's no point in arguing."

"Probably not," he said stiffly. There was something wrong – clearly, he was still peeved off – but there was something under the obvious that I could barely see.

"What's wrong?" I said, and I was annoyed with myself for asking the question as if it were an enquiry about the weather.

"Nothing you need to worry yourself about," he said in that same cardboard tone.

I recoiled slightly, truly not understanding why he was still being difficult. "Seriously Edward, what's wrong?" He made to walk back to the house, ignoring me, so I sidestepped and blocked his path. "Talk to me!" I snapped.

He looked down like he'd only just realised I was there. "I don't want to talk."

"Not fair. If you don't feel you can confide in me then I don't know why we're in a relationship at all."

He sighed and uncrossed his arms, placing a hand on either of my shoulders. It felt off, too formal, like he was playing the role of my older brother rather than boyfriend.

"I don't want us to break up, Bella. But sometimes I need to work things out for myself, and this is one of those times. If I need your help, you know I'll ask you – but for now just leave it alone." His last words were entirely different to the sincere sound of the others. It was like he was warning me to keep my nose out of it, like it was none of my business when something was upsetting him.

My teenage instincts of rebellion kicked right in. "No. I want to know."

"That's not for the best." He let go of my shoulders, dropping his hands to his pockets.

"You're not being fair!" I protested.

"You're not being reasonable."

I growled through clenched teeth, and stepped back toward the house. He made a motion to follow me to the house, but I stopped him with a look. "If that's how you feel."

He folded his arms. "Bye."

"Bye."

I stormed back to the house, stumbling up the steps in my haste, furious. How dare he insinuate that Alice was taking this too seriously! Argh!

I seized my overnight bag and pillow from by the back door where Edward had dropped them when we arrived, and roughly headed for the front door with a murderous expression on my face. "Vanessa!" I called more sharply than I'd intended. "Grab your stuff. We're going!"

Vanessa appeared from the kitchen. She looked slightly angry, slightly frightened. I could tell without asking that she and Alice had already had words – in addition to the ones Alice had probably shared with Jasper too. I wondered just how long Edward and I had been outside for.

She put her head down and hurried up the stairs. A moment after she disappeared, Alice appeared thundering down the stairs, all her things crammed into her hands and under her arms.

"We're leaving," we said at the same time, and in the same tone. Then, when the other looked surprised, we both said, "I'll tell you later," at the same time again. A small smile appeared for half a second.

"I'll bring the car around the front," Alice said shortly, dumping her things by the front door.

"Okay. I'll say bye to everyone."

I went to the kitchen and flurried out my goodbyes. My voice was strained, my smile was paining my cheeks and I thought that I might just explode with the need to hit something.

Emmett gave us a hand getting our things out to the car, so it only took one trip before we were ready to go.

"Thanks, Emmett," I said, trying very hard not to sound short with him. I think I kind of succeeded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Me too!" Vanessa called from the backseat, but she sank back and fiddled with her seatbelt longer than necessary following a glare of murderous proportions from Alice.

"See you at home, Ali," Emmett said seriously. "Drive safely."

"I will. See you, brother. Don't punch anyone I wouldn't," she added with a straight face.

Emmett cracked his knuckles. "No problem."

Thought I was immersed in my own head for most of the ride home; I knew three things for certain.

Alice was furious at Jasper.

I was furious at Edward.

And Vanessa would be caught in the crossfire.

* * *

**And there it is!! What did you think? Worth the wait?**

**This will be asked, so I might as well answer it now: Edward getting hit by a truck. You remember the moth thing in My Pen Pal? Well, this situation is something like that. All will be revealed in due time. However, if you have theories or further questions, I would love to hear them :-D**

**Chapter 8 Question:**

**If you had a superpower, what would it be?**


	9. Cornered

**I understand if you all want to kick me. This update is loooong overdue! I hope you enjoy!**

**In small pieces of news:**

**We have our 2009 senior slogan!! They chose one of mine!! 'Inspire something, regret nothing.' Thanks a million for all your suggestions, they really were the biggest help :D**

**I keep forgetting to mention - but Dibbi (Sandra) from Germany is currently translating and posting My Pen Pal on the German fanfiction site. Isn't that exciting!! It's crazy. I love you for it Sandra :-D I think there's a link on my profile page if you want to see it - and if there's not, I'll add one as soon as I'm done with this posting.**

**Oh, and I changed chapter eight. Go back and read it if you haven't already done so - I think the changes begin at Alice's POV. I accept anonymous reviews so please sign out and review if you can :-D**

**Anyway, read on! Love you all!**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

The following Monday morning had 'awkward' written all over it.

Alice pretended Vanessa didn't exist and loudly spoke over her whenever Vanessa was game enough to try and contribute to conversation. This resulted in Vanessa spending all her time with Lauren's group – not just during morning breaks and lunch times – but in the mornings and after school, too. The only times I saw her anymore were when she was at home with me and Charlie. Even then she was clever enough to stay in the same room as Charlie, therefore avoiding a one-on-one conversation about what was or wasn't happening with Alice.

Jasper was majorly in the dog house, too. If Alice was ignoring Vanessa, then she was pretending the name 'Jasper' had never been spoken in the history of the universe. I actually thought at one point that she'd developed some visual condition because Jasper stood right in her path once between classes and she stepped around him like he was no more than a lifeless pole. She didn't flinch when his furious shouting echoed down the hallway after her, either.

I'd tried to bring this up more than once, but crazily, every time I made the conscious decision to say something she had to leave, or she changed the subject so thoroughly that I was nothing if not helpless to change it back.

However, on Tuesday, I caught Vanessa by some fantastic fall of chance during my double in the afternoon.

Mr Varner had been boring my calculus class so thoroughly that absolutely no one was paying attention, and for once, he realised this fact. He gave us a meaningless sheet of work to do for half an hour (which I completed in about five minutes) so he let me leave the room for a bathroom break.

I wandered off to the toilets on the other side of campus – and somehow, when I walked in, there she was. Leaning forward to the mirror slightly, her hands tangled in her locks and a look of concentration creating crow's feet, Vanessa was obviously in no hurry to leave the room. And she was alone.

"Hey," I said, making it clear that she was so cornered.

She flicked her eyes to me, looking at my reflection rather than my physical self, and smiled a second too late. Her hands stayed in her hair.

"Hey Bella. Taking a break, are we?"

I leaned against the sink beside her, blocking the exit and also disallowing the look-at-only-my-reflection tact she had going on. I folded my arms lightly. "I'm taking a break, yes, but since you're in study you're hardly missing anything."

She smiled but didn't turn. "The perks of senior year, I suppose."

"I suppose."

We stood in silence for a full ten seconds.

"You've been avoiding me," I stated. Vanessa didn't deny nor interrupt, so I went on. "I know you don't want to talk about it. I wouldn't want to talk about it. But I know that if our roles were reversed, you would have kicked my butt this past Sunday; but I, being the softer of us, gave you three days to come out on your own." I was watching her carefully – so far, her only betrayal of expression had been a millisecond frown when I said that I was the softer of us. It was true, too. "Plenty of stuff happened last weekend. You're avoiding it, Alice is avoiding it, and I'm avoiding it. Jasper's just being ignored and he hates that – but he's not avoiding it."

"I'm not avoiding anything," she huffed, and I knew I'd chipped away at least part of her defences. "I'm just keeping out of the way."

"Same difference."

"It is not," she said forcefully, turning to look at me at last. One hand held the sink and the other rested on her hip, like an angry housewife. "I screwed up, but so did Jasper. That's not the point. I don't want to get between Jasper and Alice more than I already have."

"But you and Alice need to talk about this! She thinks something happened between you and her boyfriend!"

"I already tried to talk to her," Vanessa's knuckles went white on the edge of the sink, "on Sunday, before we left. She told me to keep the fuck out of her private life, basically, so that's what I'm doing."

"Argh," I groaned, frustrated for not having seen it sooner. I kneaded my knuckles against my hairline. "This is going to sound incredibly stupid, but whenever Alice is mad she says the opposite of what she wants you to do. If she tells you to fuck off, if you do exactly that, then she'll be ten times as mad as if you'd kept your nose in the thick of it. Sometimes she needs a good yelling at."

"How am I meant to know that?"

"You're not." I sighed again. "But I am. I should have seen this. Argh! I'm so stupid!" Alice's actions were making more sense now that I'd realised the most obvious of the obvious. Her cutting me off – my attempts at getting her to open up – meant that she badly needed to talk about what had happened.

Vanessa removed her grip from the sink – it looked difficult. "You're not stupid. This situation is stupid."

"Damn straight."

"So what do I do now?"

"Have you talked to Jasper yet?"

"Kind of. He said he was as lost as me and that he was shitting himself over losing her. He seemed kind of angry at me for all this but I think that was just him taking it out on me."

I raised my brows. "And you took that?"

She laughed, but it was not a smiling laugh. "I told him to pull his head out of his arse and treat me like a friend or he'd lose me. It worked. He apologised."

"So how did you miss the cue to tell Alice the same thing?"

"I understand guys so much easier than girls. Girls are all over the place – guys are almost the same when it comes to stuff like this."

"Fair enough." I paused. "Now, don't think you're off the hook because I'm changing the subject – but why are you spending so much time with Lauren and her skanks?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

I rolled my eyes. "Aside from Alice."

"What do you mean?" She said it in a surprised voice – innocent, but a little bit too much. It was like she'd pictured this scenario several times and had decided to use that as her best answer. Perhaps to buy more time to compose herself for a lie… yes, I watch too much television. Or I just listen to Emmett too often.

"You were spending time with them before this whole thing started."

"So?"

"So I'm just curious. Why do you like spending time with them?"

"They've got different perspectives on life."

"Like what? That the earth is really some huge pom-pom in the universal football championship or something?"

She actually looked mad – I'd hit a nerve.

"No, I like spending time with them because they do more and talk about more than their boyfriends and how great it is to swallow tongue all day."

Oh. She felt like a third wheel because we're all paired off. I could understand that.

"And I feel like I belong more with them than with you guys."

"What do you mean?" I was worried now – I could hear that edge to her voice. I didn't know what it meant, exactly, but it sure as hell meant something.

"They just have … more life experience. They've done more things, seen more things."

"I don't understand."

"Look, I don't want to be rude but there's only really one way to say this – you guys are too tame for me. I like to get out there and be a bit more spontaneous, you know? Get smashed once in a while. Take a pill. Wake up next to someone you'll never see again."

Her voice broke on the last word, and she suddenly went paper-white when she realised what she's said. Holy shit, she slept around. She took drugs. "Vanessa," I whispered, reaching for her, but she shrank away.

"I'll see you later," she said in a small voice. "Don't look for me, okay?"

That was code for 'Don't follow me, I need to be alone.' She walked quickly from the room, her swinging hair hiding her face and one hand covering her nose and mouth. I would have guessed she might swing around and throw up in a toilet cubicle but she pushed through the bathroom door, sniffing loudly as it swung shut.

I leant against my sink, limbs heavy and mind whirring. I didn't follow her. Perhaps I should have.

- - -

On Wednesday Vanessa avoided me completely. In the morning she got up and went about her business without seeing me – I only knew she was awake because of the music playing from the old CD player in her room. It was turned up very loud. She alternated between the bathroom and kitchen and bedroom so I missed her every time, and when we rode to school she plugged my iPod in to her ears and turned it up so loud that I could hear every word and beat of the songs she played.

During biology, morning break, double English and lunch she either sat on the other side of the room from me or wasn't present at all. After school I found a note slipped under the windshield wiper of my truck. It said, 'Gone to see a friend. I'll come back when I'm ready. Vanessa xox'

I seethed silently, shoved the note in my bag and took twice as long to unlock my door because I kept dropping the stupid keys.

- - -

Vanessa didn't return on Wednesday night. No phone call.

She didn't come back on Thursday, and wasn't at school. No phone call. No one had seen her.

Friday Charlie put his police force on alert and called all surrounding towns, faxing them her photo. I questioned every person I came across, but no one had seen her. Not even the popular bitches had seen her – and they seemed worried enough that I believed them. Vanessa must have been more liked by them than I'd thought.

Saturday morning Charlie started searching for her. But they didn't find her.

Where the hell did she go?

* * *

**Ohhkay, here's some more drama for you all. I hope you liked it! I'll try and get the next chapter out soon!**

**Chapter 9 Question:**

**What is your opinion on Barack Obama's presidency? (Interpret that however you wish.)**


	10. Found

**My beautiful readers!! How I love thee so much. Here is another update - and here begins the rotation of perspectives for the remainder of the story. It's fun to do it like that :-D I hope I captured the essence of Edward nice and clear for you!**

**

* * *

**

**EDWARD MASEN**

The moments right after I woke up were the best. In that three or four seconds of complete oblivion, when my mind concentrated on retaining my fast-fading dreams and didn't remember what was going on in my waking world, I felt so damn relaxed that on the fifth second I almost suffered a stress-induced hernia.

This pattern had not been going on very long, I knew, but it felt like forever. Since Vanessa had gone missing on Wednesday night, the last three times I'd woken up had been accompanied by that damn stress.

And I felt even worse about Bella. She had been given the unwritten responsibility of looking out for her cousin and now that she was missing, I knew Bella felt entirely responsible. Too many times over the last three days had I heard her repeating the same sentiment; Where the fuck is Vanessa?

At least today there was no school to add to the mix. Saturday provided that much of a relief.

I sat up in bed, the covers sliding down to my waist. I pressed my palms to my eyes in an attempt at shoving the upcoming headache to the back of my mind – it didn't work. Never did.

My en-suite looked the same as usual – towels everywhere, clothes on the floor other than in the laundry chute and things that I'd pulled from my pockets on various occasions sitting like a museum exhibition on my vanity counter.

I splashed some water on my face, hanging my head and watching the water drop from the end of my nose. I didn't bother looking at my reflection – I knew there would be sleepless circles under my eyes and a lack of sponginess in my cheeks from the lack of genuine smiling I'd done recently. Guilt welled in my throat and almost made me hurl.

Feeling pathetic and clammy, I pulled my shirt over my head with one hand and leaned into the shower cubicle to turn the hot tap on. While I waited for it to warm up I went back to my bedroom, made sure the door to the hall was locked, and seized a clean pair of underwear and pants.

Back in the bathroom I swept all the dirty laundry up and threw it down the chute, watching it disappear; then I grabbed the used towels save for a couple and watched the rest disappear too. I hung up the two remaining towels and turned back to the shower where steam had fogged up the glass.

- - -

Ten minutes later I stepped out on to the carpet of my bedroom and nearly fell backwards.

"Morning," she said. Her brown eyes twinkled, reading the next question before I could voice it. "Yes, you locked it, but I was already in here."

"What, hiding behind my bed?"

"Would I be so childish?" she returned, walking past me onto the tiles.

I resisted the urge to answer her rhetorical question. "You're not being fair about this you know."

"Life isn't fair."

"You would know."

She flashed me a look so much like Bella's. "Do you do this to everyone who confides in you?" She reached for the towel beside my own. The one that ought to not be hanging there.

"Only the people who put me in severely compromising positions at the same time."

"Do you always talk like that?"

I knew what she meant. "I was raised reading Bronte."

"Figures." Then she closed the door behind her, and a minute later I heard the sounds of the shower coming on again. I immediately heard footsteps on the stairs, so I went to the door in anticipation. But I didn't open it.

"Edward dear?" Esme called. I could tell she was only halfway up. "Why are you having another shower?"

I tried to sound tired. Weariness came through instead – but the two emotions were close enough that my mother didn't pick the falseness. "I was so tired I forgot to wash out the conditioner. I won't be long."

"Good thing we live in a place where there's no shortage of water," she joked. I was quite sure she believed me – the other times Vanessa had showered here my parents had not been home from work.

I regretted lying to my mother – I wished more than anything that she would somehow know what was going on and fix it before Bella found out. Because _when_ she found out, I knew I was in for it. And I would deserve it.

Another wave of nausea forced me to sit on my bed without moving, trying to keep the bile down. The bathroom water cut off so I went downstairs for breakfast. Vanessa wasn't stupid enough to come down – Esme and Carlisle didn't know she was here and it was very much better that way. They were _good people_ – they would actually tell Charlie where his MIA niece was if they knew. Not like me. I just lied and pretended I wasn't harbouring an emotionally ruined girl with some serious baggage.

In the kitchen Esme was sitting at the island with a bowl of cornflakes in front of her. The plasma over the stove was on, the sound right down, and a cartoon I didn't recognise was playing. Esme was watching with a grin on her face. She was so youthful at heart.

I pushed some bread down into the toaster, subtly slipping a banana and apple in my pocket when Esme got up to put her bowl beside the sink. "Carlisle wants to speak to you this morning, Edward," she said airily. I froze and felt the blood in my face evaporate. Esme didn't seem to notice.

"Why?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

She headed for the staircase. "Don't know. He's waiting now."

"Okay," I said in a small voice. I took a look at the toaster, saw that it had a few minutes to go, and decided to dash upstairs to give Vanessa her breakfast before facing Carlisle. It wouldn't do to have to explain why I was smuggling fruit around the house if he _didn't_ know about my uninvited guest.

I took the stairs two at time when Esme was out of sight, dashed in to my bedroom and dropped the pieces of fruit on my mattress. I was out again before Vanessa could have a chance to appear from the bathroom – this was one of the few moments that I was relieved about girls spending so much time in bathrooms.

Carlisle's office was down the hall beside his bedroom. I did my best to compose my features in to a politely interested expression – but once I'd knocked and Carlisle said, "Come in Edward", it went to hell. I looked guiltier than a cat with a canary feather poking from its teeth.

He was at his dark wooden desk, head bent over something and one hand scribbling. He didn't look up when I stepped inside. "Close the door behind you, please." His pleasant manners were more unnerving than if he'd been swinging an axe.

"You wanted to see me," I spoke to the door, afraid of meeting my father's eyes.

"Yes." A rustling of papers. I could feel his stare. I didn't turn around. "You're going to see Bella today, am I right?"

I half turned, but didn't incline my head at all. I concentrated on a painting of eighteenth century Italy on his wall, speaking to the silver moon there. "Yeah, I'm going to see her. Why?" I hoped he couldn't hear the shaking in my voice.

"I was just making sure. Because I wanted you to know that if you don't see Bella today, I'll be seeing Charlie." He spoke gravely. Shit. He totally knew.

I turned my head without giving myself permission to do so. Carlisle's eyes caught me with such force that I couldn't look away – they were electric blue in this light, focused with determination, and they were pulling me to him and shoving me away with equal force. It was very uncomforting to see him so intense.

"And make sure," he said without breaking eye contact, "that when you see her you say everything you need to."

"I will, Dad." I barely ever called Esme and Carlisle 'Mum' and 'Dad'. All three of us knew that it was significant when I did so – it meant that I knew where my place was. That I wasn't their get-away-with-it nephew anymore.

He nodded once, released me by looking back to his paper, and I knew I should leave.

I was intrigued that he knew; curious as to whether Esme did too; and frightened about facing my girlfriend. But I deserved to be. However, most of all, I was grateful that he was giving me the push that I needed.

Bella would not find out from Charlie. She would find out from me.

- - -

Vanessa promised not to make a sound, not to leave the room, and not to touch any of my stuff while I went to see Bella. It was protocol by now; "I'm going out, stay here and don't ruin anything while I'm gone. Hide if anyone but me comes." She would always agree. But I always found things moved around when I got back. She was as stubborn as Bella, too - she always insisted that she hadn't done anything wrong.

Bella didn't greet me at the door like she usually did. I knocked and waited, but she didn't come. Neither did Charlie – not that I expected him to. He was probably out looking for Vanessa in all the wrong places.

But, as things went in the town of Forks, the front door was unlocked. I let myself in and looked around the ground floor of the house, but Bella must have been upstairs. When I went in her room and saw her scrunched up under her duvet my heart panged – I was causing her this. It wasn't fair. I wasn't _being_ fair.

"Bella," I said gently, putting my hand on her shoulder as I sat on the mattress. She was facing away from me.

"Mmm."

"Wake up beautiful," I whispered, leaning toward her to touch her ear with my nose. Bad idea.

"What?" she said in a clearer voice, obviously snapping out of a dream, and sitting up so sharply that my face was caught in the crossfire.

"Ung," I moaned, clutching my nose and falling back off the bed. Ouch. The floor was harder than usual this morning.

"Shit! Edward! What are you doing here? Are you alright? Crap, crap, crap! Your nose! What happened?!" She obviously hadn't gotten close enough to get a whiff yet. But I was surprised she couldn't smell the blood that must be on her hair.

"I'm okay," I said, sounding weird because I was holding my nose in the air now. I sat up and onto the edge of the mattress. "I just got in the way, that's all," I said carefully.

Bella realised what had happened. Damn it, she was always quicker than I thought! Now she was going to feel guilty. I deserved a mutated nose, and more, I reminded myself. No point in cleaning it up because she'll probably just punch me again in a minute.

"Let me get you a towel or some ice or something," she said, hopping off the bed. "I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry Edward! I'm such an idiot!" She headed for the door but I caught her wrist and pulled her back.

"I know you're probably about to hurl but I need you to hear something before you try and make me feel better. You're probably going to want to kick me in the face when I've finished."

"What are you talking about?"

I motioned for her to sit down. I tried to get up, because pacing helps me think, but she stopped me. "You're bleeding. Stay still."

"Why aren't you halfway to fainting? You hate blood."

She raised one eyebrow like I was missing something obvious. "I hate the _smell_ of blood. Yours smells fine. Nice, even. Like… like chocolate cherries." She grinned. "If I were a vampire I would have taken you down so fast your head would spin."

"Lucky me," I muttered, annoyed at myself for getting sidetracked.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

She got up again. "Let me get you some ice." I tried to grab her back but she was too quick. Or maybe my arms weren't moving as fast as I wanted them to. Ugh, my head… damned headache. Spinning. Ugh... nausea...

When she returned with some ice cubes wrapped in a tea towel, I had sorted out what I wanted to say. And stabilised my centre of gravity

"Sit," I ordered, determined to stay focused past the throbbing in my temples and the crusty blood on my lips. Bella sat but forced the ice onto my nose. This made it harder to talk – but I allowed it. The cold was really very nice.

"I have something to tell you," I began. She looked concerned. "And I need you to listen until I've finished if you can. But I'll understand if you want to hit me in the nose again."

She started to laugh but I held up a hand to stop her. She looked concerned. I took a deep breath and forced myself to talk.

"Vanessa has been staying at my house for the past few days. She asked me not to tell anyone because she wasn't sure whether she was going to come back or not. It was wrong and I'm an asshole and I'm so sorry it's not even possible for me to be sorrier."

Bella's lips pursed so tightly that they were fading to white, blending with her skin so she looked crazed. But she didn't say anything.

"She came over on Wednesday night and wanted to talk. Esme and Carlisle weren't home – they don't know anything about this, by the way." I think. "She was crying about something so I let her in and she talked and talked and talked and when she stopped it was two in the morning. She asked to stay the night. She said she would call you and Charlie, and like an idiot I believed her.

"The next morning she said she was catching the bus into school because she wanted to think so I didn't give her a ride. I only knew she'd been lying when you asked me if I'd seen her. I should have told you where she was but she obviously had a reason for lying… so I waited until I got home. She was still there.

"She told me about what happened before she came here. About how she felt about you and Charlie and how she got in with the wrong people and bad things happened and she wanted to start fresh.

"'Start here,' I told her. But she wanted to start somewhere else.

"I didn't know what to do. There were so many times when I was about to say something-"

"But you didn't!" she finally snapped. I lowered the ice from my face. She deserved a clear shot if she wanted it. "You let me and Charlie worry the hell out of ourselves. I've barely slept! Charlie's been out searching for her every day! You couldn't even let us know that she was okay? That she hadn't been run over and dumped in a ditch the other side of Seattle? _You let her stay in your house?"_

"I'm sorry," I felt weak, sounded weak. I was an idiot. Couldn't I have told Bella that Vanessa was at least okay?

"This isn't your fault," she snapped. "It's Vanessa's."

"But-"

"_Are you defending her?"_

"No, I just don't want you to blame her for me being an idiot."

"Don't worry, I'm mad as hell at you too. But this is all her fault – it wasn't fair for her to do that to you. You still should have said something, though."

"Do you want me to go?"

She got up and paced twice across the carpet. She'd never looked to beautifully enraged before. I wanted to hit myself – stop admiring her and concentrate on how stupid you are. Lose her and you've lost another perfect woman.

"Bella?" I whispered.

"Yes." She wasn't answering to her name – she was answering my question.

I got up and passed her so closely that I could feel the heat from her arm sear me.

"Wait," she said when I got to the door. "Is Vanessa coming back?"

I honestly didn't know. "Maybe."

"Hmph." She kept pacing, and didn't look at me again. I left without another word.

- - -

"If you don't go back to Bella and Charlie's place, then I'll take you there by force."

I was home again, in my bedroom, arguing in whispers with my most unwelcome roommate. She was sitting cross-legged on my bed, like a child, and I was standing over her with a furious twist to my features. I could scare the pants off a mafia member with this face, I knew. So why wasn't she cringing? She must have seen some scary people to stare me down without a flinch.

"I'll go back."

That was too damn easy.

"What?"

"I've avoided it all long enough. It's time to go back."

"Oh, well. Good. Get your stuff."

She shrugged her shoulders, making her jacket poof up. "Got everything."

"We're leaving. Now."

"Okay."

She was aggravating me more and more as her nonchalance increased. I hoped she wouldn't say anything else.

We got down the stairs and were opening the front door when Carlisle appeared.

"Hey Carlisle," Vanessa said, like she'd fully expected him to be standing there. "I'm going back now."

"Good girl. Talk it out, won't you? Let Bella in. She's a good listener."

My jaw hit the floor. They were talking like old friends – Carlisle, you mother fu–

"So I've heard." Vanessa grinned. "Edward's not bad either."

"So _I've_ heard." Carlisle smiled at me now. My jaw was still on the floor, so I picked it up and ruffled my indignant feathers.

"Leaving," I snapped at Vanessa. She raised her eyebrows but walked out without comment. "You knew?" I directed at my father.

"How could I not? She plays music like a damn rock concert in your bedroom."

I was still seething when I climbed in my Volvo.

* * *

**Ohhhkay. Don't kill me.**

**Chapter 10 Question:**

**If you could live a year in any book you wanted, which would it be? (Doesn't have to be Twilight-related.)**


	11. Broken

**Hello! I'm back with another chapter - and this one's a long one. Thank you all for sticking with me :)**

**And just quickly; there's a fanfic story I read which was so genius that I got lightheaded from holding my breath so much. You must must must read. And bug the author to update the sequel, too =) Here's the link with spaces: www. fanfiction .net/s/4194120/1/**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

Vanessa came home on Saturday. Lucky for her, Charlie was home for lunch when she came waltzing through the door, so I couldn't reach out and throttle her skinny neck like I wanted to. Her excuse was none too original – "I stayed with a friend in Seattle."

"You couldn't have called?" Charlie snapped, but I could hear the overwhelming relief in his voice. I could only imagine the scenarios his mind might have painted for him during the frequent silences in the house. They would have to have been similar to the ones _I'd_ suffered.

Vanessa shrugged. "Every time I tried there was an engaged signal."

Fortunately for her, that would have been true if she'd actually tried to phone us. Charlie's ear had almost melted into the earpiece while she'd been away.

"Bella's phone? The station? You really should have called!"

"Whoa Charlie, chill. I was fine. I didn't think it was a big deal – I would have been trying to get through to you _that_ desperately if something _was_ wrong. But it wasn't." She held up her arms and did a turn on the spot. "I'm fine, see? Nothing missing or maimed."

Charlie bristled his top lip. "While you live under my roof, Vanessa, I will have to punish you deservingly."

"But you wouldn't deny me the opportunity to get to know my peers by grounding me, would you Charlie?" She was batting her damned eyelashes. Ugh. I would say that I wished it wouldn't work on him – but the puppy-eyed look had gotten me out of many punishments in the past. And undoubtedly future ones, too.

And Charlie folded like origami. "No grounding, then. But you have to clean the bathroom for the next month."

"No problem."

Damn it Charlie! She already cleans the bathroom!

I stomped noisily up the stairs to express my distaste, but didn't rat out my cousin. I might want to shake her till her teeth fell out but I still loved her. She was still like a sister.

- - -

**ALICE BRANDON**

Still Saturday

It was raining. Perhaps that was an omen? I don't know. Forks rains so much it seems way too normal to be considered an omen. But if the sky was bright blue with a rainbow and fluffy white clouds – that would definitely be an omen.

I listened to the sound of the rain – like donut sprinkles hitting a piece of paper. Continuously. I looked beside me, out the window, at how the glass was starting to fog and how the ribbons of water trickled down like elongated tears. Definitely an omen.

"Say something," Jasper whispered. But in the concrete silence it sounded like a shout; my heart kicked again and again at the bones of my ribcage. Thud. Thud. Thud. Kick. Kick. Kick.

"I don't want to," I whispered back, just as blaringly.

He breathed in very quietly, a huge breath that lifted his chin and arched his back. Normally I wouldn't have heard but every sound magnified itself in the cabin of my Porsche, where we sat now. Silent and still and dripping, in Jasper's case.

I'd called him, told him I was coming over. He sounded far too happy about that. When I arrived, he came out to meet me with an umbrella, and beckoned for me to get out. He'd been smiling. The last of a million times, I think.

"I know you need to. Or you wouldn't have come." He sounded so sad now. I could feel the absence of warmth between us – not _cold_, just _not warm_. Like there was a wall. "Please, Alice."

Don't say my name. It makes it harder.

"Don't leave me hanging."

I shut my eyes, determined not to cry. "I don't know what to say – _how_ to say this." The tears were acidic behind my lids. "I can't –"

"Don't. Please don't." He was whispering.

I forced the words out, and pretended it was someone else speaking. I couldn't believe what I was doing.

"I can't be in this relationship right now."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"No." And I don't ever want to. Hug me. Stop me. Cover your ears and run from me. _Please._

"Then what? What are you doing?" He was frustrated; confused. He hated being confused. I still hadn't opened my eyes so it was easier to do this without seeing the brokenness in his face.

"I think we should go on a break." Silence. Stretched silence. Still silent. I opened my eyes and forced myself to look – but he wasn't looking at me. His head was bowed and his eyes were closed, just the way I had been a moment ago. "Jasper?"

"For how long?" Still whispering. Still not looking at me.

I took this opportunity to stare shamelessly at him, appreciate all the things I hadn't appreciated before. "As long as it takes."

"As long as it takes for _what?!"_

I shouldn't have been staring – because he looked at me now and his eyes would not let me go. My cheeks were cold. My lungs weren't going fast enough. Can't. Breathe.

"Don't stop talking now," he snapped. Mad, mad, mad. My fault.

I closed my eyes when his hands brushed tears away and stayed on my face. "I'm sorry," I apologised.

"No, Alice, don't say this." He sounded determined now. But he knew it was fruitless. "I want to help, I want to be here for you, I _need_ you…" He trailed off, his hands still searching my skin, brushing my hair back and touching my neck, my ears, my cheeks, my lips. And repeat.

I started to blubber now, my teeth biting my lip too hard and making it bleed. I barely felt the sting, I just tasted the warmth.

"Don't cry," but he was crying too. I could hear it, see it. Feel it.

Time to let go. "I'll explain this when the time is right. I love you too much to keep doing this to you." That last part was true.

He wasn't giving up. "You're not being fair! Talk to me, Ali, tell me what's upsetting you!"

Still crying. _Lie, Alice,_ I told myself. _Lie._

"I need you to go, Jasper." My voice broke on his name. It must have known what I was doing. Liar, liar, pants on fire. "Just go."

I turned away from him, folding my hands under my elbows and crushing them there to stop myself reaching for him. I shut my eyes and tried to justify this to myself. _Better this way,_ I chanted in my head. _Better for him this way._

I heard the leather creak as he climbed out, and the seconds of louder rain while the door was open. Then the sprinkles were muffled and he was gone. I forced myself to turn on the car, put it in gear and leave.

_Don't look back,_ I instructed myself fiercely. But I did it anyway. He had stepped out onto the road and was staring after the car, clothes dark and clinging and wet, the umbrella limp at his side.

- - -

**ROSALIE HALE**

Saturday night

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"No, no peeking."

"But I've been standing here for longer than 'just a minute', Emmett."

He chuckled. "Patience, Rosalie. A minute longer, then you can look."

I sighed and folded my arms. Emmett had asked me to come over to his house for dinner, which I didn't mind and wasn't surprised by – but when I walked in the front door he demanded that I close my eyes. He then carried me up the stairs and in to his bedroom – I knew his house well enough to know we were in his bedroom – and he'd set me down by the door. I'd now been standing with my eyes closed for the past ten minutes while he skittered about doing something that I was yet to discover.

"Hurry up," I said impatiently. He knew I was joking.

"Nearly done… Yes! Open your eyes."

It took a moment for me to adjust to the light, even though it was not bright at all. I looked at him sitting by the table.

It was a small, round, dark brown table with a white lace tablecloth over it. I recognised the two chairs from the dining set downstairs. There were four candles, none of which were lit, but there was a box of matches beside them. There was enough cutlery and plates for two people.

"What's this for?" I asked, grinning, while I walked toward the empty chair.

Emmett jumped up and held it out for me. I smiled wider.

"Nothing in particular. I just remember how very unromantic I am sometimes and I wanted to do something special for you."

I scoffed at the 'unromantic' comment – Emmett was the most romantic guy I'd ever come across, let alone dated. Speaking of which –

"I'm not missing some significant anniversary or anything, am I?" I wondered, mentally scanning my calendar. We must have been dating for about eighteen months now… Oh, crap! I repeated my sentiment out loud. Emmett laughed.

"Don't worry about it, I'm surprised _I_ remembered."

"I'm not," I retorted. Emmett almost counted the hours we were dating – it scared me that he could calculate such things when he acted like such a dork most of the time. "You remember milestones better than I do, and I'm the _girl_."

Emmett started laughing. "You know, that's probably true, about the milestone thing." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Test me."

I knew what he meant.

"First kiss."

"The first night we met." He smiled proudly, so I leaned over the table and gently kissed him, running a hand playfully back through his hair to make it all stick up.

"First sleepover," I said as he tried to flatten it down again.

"October twelfth."

"First fight."

Emmett wrinkled his nose, but answered regardless. "October thirteenth."

I laughed at that. "I remember that very well, because you wouldn't walk me to my door."

"But Dad was going to kill me if I didn't get the car home quick enough!"

I started laughing. "You looked so frightened that I couldn't stay mad at you for long."

"Too right," he grinned. "I honestly can't believe the capacity of my memory for this stuff. Ask me one more."

I thought for a minute or so, tapping a finger on my chin for show. I decided to be tricky. "The first time we slept together."

His mouth went slack and eyes glazed over. "I, um, well. It must have been, um. You know, that time, when you stayed over my house…"

I made myself look outraged. "You don't remember?" I hissed, trying very hard not to smile.

He looked sheepishly at me. "Was I sober?"

I started laughing, I couldn't help it. He looked so scared.

"Wait up a minute," he said, catching on. "You sneaky little thing!" He jumped up and reached for me, picking my up to make me laugh harder while he feathered my ticklish ribcage.

I roared with laughter and tears started leaking from my eyes. "Your, face," I gasped out. "Too, funny!"

Emmett grumbled something and sat back down, tried to push me off him, but I seized his shirt collar and stayed across his knees. I kissed him nice and sloppily on the cheek, making a big wet sound when I pulled away. His expression was one of amusement but attempted ignorance. I giggled at him.

"So are we eating, or what?" I asked, gesturing to the table spread a few minutes later, when we'd both needed to come up for air. I wiped some pink gloss from the corner of Emmett's mouth with my pinkie.

"Absolutely. I'm cooking, too," he added when I hopped off him to get back in my own seat.

"You cook? I'm shocked. Wait – we're not eating a microwave meal are we?"

"Not a chance."

"Where'd you order out from then?"

He started laughing. "Rosie, Rosie. After you've eaten, _then_ you can ask me if I ordered takeout or not."

Then he disappeared into the hallway, and I heard him whistling in the kitchen between the sounds of pots and pans being moved around.

I sat back and hummed a few songs in my head before I realised I ought to give Emmett a hand. So I headed down the stairs without my shoes on (I'd kicked them off while I'd been waiting with my eyes closed). Emmett heard me when I hit the creaking stair halfway down and I saw him half-appear around the kitchen doorway with a spatula in one hand and an apron wrapped around his middle.

"That's hot," I waved my hand at his chef's hat. And I wasn't joking either…

He waved the spatula at me, sending some crumbs flying across the carpet. "Get back up there. I want to make you dinner on my own, little missy, so go relax and read on my bed or something."

"Thanks for the offer but I'd rather not skim through porn mags, thanks."

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't need those things." One cheek raised in an adorable, dimply half-smile. I wanted to leap on him, but I controlled myself, because I was only halfway down the stairs and would surely break a leg. "I'll bring everything up when it's ready. But I only want you to see the finished product."

"Fine." I pretended to sulk, but turned and dragged my feet up the stairs while he watched. Then I got an idea.

"Oh dear," I said dramatically, stopping near the top stair with my head hanging, looking at my socks. "My socks seem to have fallen down. I simply _must_ pull them up."

Then, making a show of it by going very slow and doing some strategic hair-flicking, I bent to touch my toes without bending my legs, and pulled my socks up, one at a time. I looked at Emmett, up-side down, through my knees. He was so torn that he looked in pain.

So I flicked my hair before straightening up, curved my spine as I did so, and walked up the remaining stairs with a wink over my shoulder. Emmett growled, but forced himself to stay in the kitchen. I laughed under my breath.

Back in his bedroom, it was less than two minutes before I was bored. I'd seen everything in his room before and had never had any reason to look through his stuff because he'd already shown me what was in every drawer and on the other side of every cupboard door. I flopped down on his bed, expecting to be able to lie peacefully for a while where Emmett's warmth seemed to still touch the sheets, but my butt was on top of something hard. Intrigued, I jumped up and pulled back the covers.

It was a big leather photo album, by the looks. Dark brown with black stitching, it looked a bit faded but well-cared for. I doubted I was meant to look at it, but Emmett would have taken it with him if he _never_ wanted me to see it, so I opened the first page and nearly squealed with the force of the girly, gushing, throat-blocking sweetness that overwhelmed me.

'Emmett loves Rosalie', it said in curly writing. There was a photo of the two of us; faces squashed together, both red-lipped with buds of snow in our hair. The page had pieces of ribbon and lace stuck all around the edges in a carefully done border.

He'd made me a scrapbook.

Unbelievably excited, I turned to the next page, and was greeted by a stuck-in pad page with a letter written on it.

_Rosalie,_

_Happy eighteen month anniversary, baby. I never wanted to forget a moment between us, so I made this for you. I hope you like it._

_Love you forever,_

_Emmett xoxoxox_

I squealed as quietly as I could and turned the page. Incredible.

There was a photo of the garden in which we had shared our first kiss. Emmett had hand-written a note beside it. _The best night of my life. So far._

The sweetness didn't stop coming… for the next page had a picture of the two of us out on the rowboat where we'd had our first date. Emmett had organised a picnic on the water, under the stars. And he'd given me his watch. I still had it, too, on my dressing table at home.

Then, there was a photo of the two of us at school with the cafeteria building in the background. We were leaning on his car with our arms around each other.

Then a photo of all our friends from school. Unfortunately, Mike Newton was in this one, he and Bella with their arms around each other like the couple they had once been. I felt a little sorry for Mike – but he deserved what he got. He tried to get with Bella after she'd told him she wasn't interested, after all.

The next page held a photo of Emmett and I wearing equally horrible Christmas sweaters at my house. Jasper looked pissed off in the background – obviously he and Alice hadn't happened yet – and Jasper also had the remnants of a snowball fight on the back of his bright red and green knitted jumper. I laughed to myself at the memory.

I turned the page and grinned immediately. It was New Year's, and there were streamers and glitter falling all around us. Emmett and I were lip-locked, as you do, one of his arms stretched out toward the camera. I hadn't known this photo had been taken.

The next photo was just the two of us at school again, but this time our hair and faces had the glow attributed to sunlight. It was highly necessary to document the sunny days in Forks, just to remind yourself that they were actually possible. We were wearing our Seniors hoodies. Emmett wasn't looking at the camera in this photo though, he was looking at me. I, oblivious to this, was grinning like a wrinkly pear, my eyes shut tight and teeth bared in an embarrassing way. But for the adoration Emmett had in his eyes, I might have been wearing a ball gown, tiara and had professionally done makeup. I felt my heart clench with the desire to run downstairs and bury him under kisses.

But my curiosity to see what else was in here was too strong.

So I flipped the page. It was my birthday party. I was standing far enough away from the camera that you could see my glorious Jimmy Choo's – and one arm was thrown around a gorilla with a human head. Emmett, of course. He'd dressed up and given me a gorilla-gram. I had almost shut the door on him before I realised it wasn't a prank.

The next couldn't have been taken by Emmett – it must've been Alice. I'd fallen asleep, fully-dressed, on Emmett's bed a few weeks ago. When I woke up Emmett was sleeping next to me, his arms around my middle. I stayed there for a few more hours because I felt so comfortable and warm. The photo was a shot of the both of us while we'd been asleep. Our noses were almost touching. My hair was fanned out on the pillow behind us and Emmett had the elbow of one arm just under my arm pit, with the palm of his hand resting on the back of my head. I stared at this one for a long, long time before I realised there was a very short note next to it.

_Definitely the best night of my life._

When I tore my eyes away to look at what was on the next page, I grinned by reaction. It was a shot of every one of the people who'd gone to the cinemas with us ages ago. Port Angeles and Forks buddies alike. There was Ally, Tyler, Paul, Ben, Angela, Kim, Jared, Edward, Bella, Alice, Leah, Sam, Emmett and I. A passing stranger had agreed to take the photo for us.

The next photo was at Emmett's birthday. His had had a theme – 'scary'. I'd dressed up as a rather risqué vampire; tight leather, chalky white face, black heels and a generous amount of cleavage. Emmett had loved it – and eye-threatened any other guy that looked my way – so I was all too happy to wear it. That and, I felt sexy in it. Enough said. Emmett had dressed as The Hulk – ripped shirt, tatty shorts and a _lot_ of green body paint. I had green-tinged hands for the rest of the night after that rub-down.

The next photo was of the two of us standing in the rain, arms around each other and in my case, legs too – kissing like there was no such thing as a sin. I felt a tiny twinge of desire, seeing us like that, and very nearly tore myself in half at the urge to leap off the side of the stairs to Emmett. But again, curiosity got the better of me – there was only one page left.

So I re-crossed my legs and looked at the last page. Every pore in my body froze solid at the two curly words across the page and the shiny diamond ring dangling from a piece of white ribbon.

_Marry me._

- - -

**ISABELLA SWAN**

Sunday

I knocked on the door of Edward's home, so familiar with the place that it was almost habit to end up here after driving the streets of Forks in a confused attempt to forget what was going on in life. I was mad as hell at my boyfriend. The only way to sort out something like that was to talk about it.

The white door opened slowly, so I knew it wasn't Edward on the other side of it. And I was right.

"Hey Esme."

"Hello dear," she said, smiling. It was only when her face split into a grin that her age lines were visible – but strangely enough, it was at these moments that she looked ten years younger anyway. It was very balancing. "Edward's upstairs. He's a bit upset over something, but I hope seeing you will make him smile again."

I pained myself to return the smile, though I knew the worry on my face would distort it terribly. "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

But Esme kept her poker face on. "Lovely. I'll tell Carlisle not to disturb the two of you while you talk then."

"Thanks." Esme always knows what the right thing to do is.

I crossed the hall to the stairs and climbed them slowly, placing each foot on each stair before taking another step up. It was like a strange wedding march. And it took me a long time to complete.

When I was outside his door, finally, I took a breath and steeled myself. _Knock knock._

"Come in."

So I did. He sounded like he thought it was Esme or something, so I didn't speak. I wanted him to see me first, to gauge his reaction when I could properly analyse it. He was always too good at covering his expressed emotions.

He was playing with his stereo, a CD in either hand, like he was changing them over. The silence in the room was unnatural – almost every time I'd been here with him there had been music of some kind in the background. Trust me to pick this perfect moment.

Then he turned around. Damn it, his poker face is as good as Esme's. Stupid genetics.

"You came. Are you still talking to me?"

"Maybe." And I really didn't know. Like I said, I was still angry at him.

Edward slowly put the CD's back in their cases, slowly put them in their places in the wall of CD's, and sat down on his bed. Slowly. So I pushed myself forward and sat beside him – but with enough room separating us so a small child could have fitted between.

I decided to be straight. "We need to talk about what happened with Vanessa."

"I know. I'm so sorry, Bella." And he sounded sorry. So why did I feel this stupid surge of anger? Don't think about it, I told myself. Concentrate on finding out the facts.

"Never mind that," I said, diverting the subject with a raised eyebrow of questions.

He seemed to understand where I was heading. "So… what first?"

"Tell me how she came here, and why."

"Wednesday after school she came round here. Said she wanted to talk. So I let her in because she was crying and stuff and I didn't want to send her out in the rain because she's a friend and everything.

"She talked about everything that'd happened so far. The thing with Alice and Jasper, how she feels like she doesn't belong anywhere, how she feels really lonely since we're all paired off. I didn't say a lot.

"Then she told me about… other stuff." There it is. The reason Vanessa acts like such a twit some of the time and an angel at others. "Said I couldn't tell anyone."

"She told you why she was all beaten up when she arrived, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"And you're not going to tell me." It wasn't a question.

He looked me straight in the eye, trying to make me drop it. "I made a promise."

No such luck. "Promises are always compromised when one half of the equation has a significant other, Edward."

"That's not the way it works. Do you expect Alice to tell Jasper everything you tell her?"

"Yes."

"Bad example," he allowed, and I saw him start to think about what he could offer in its place.

"Because there _is_ no good example," I jumped in. "Vanessa knew that by telling you, it meant you were going to tell me. It's the unwritten rule of secret-dom."

"In girl world," he argued.

I sighed, a frustrated sound. "Yes, in girl world."

"But not guy world."

I totally saw that coming.

"This is more important than confidentiality, Edward!" I snapped. "She was clearly abused and Charlie and I can do something about it!"

"That's exactly why she doesn't want you two to know. She wants to forget about it and move on."

"So why did she tell _you_ then?" I countered, feeling half-jealous, half-scandalised.

"She said she needed to scrape out the wound before it could heal properly."

Euphemisms. Hmph. Two can play at that game. "It will still scar."

"It will scar no matter what you or Charlie do. Leave it alone, Bella."

"No." I clenched my jaw to stop myself from saying something I'd probably regret.

"You're so damned stubborn!"

"And you're not?"

"Don't turn this around on me!"

My heart was beating faster with adrenaline, though I knew there was no danger other than the verbal one. But the increase in my heart rate made me want to revv him up. "Why shouldn't I?" I said, pouting like a child.

"Because I can't concentrate properly when you're all hot and flustered."

Ohkay, that was _way_ off the mark.

"What?"

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and leaned closer to me. He smelled especially good today, damn him. I started to imagine what those lips could be doing–

"You look so damn hot when you're angry. I always lose the argument because I'm thinking about kissing you too mu–"

And there goes my self-control.

I jumped forward, kissing him quickly on every part of his face I could reach. My hands clamped just under his ears with my thumbs on his cheeks, and my legs moved without expressed permission. In a split second I was ravishing him, straddling him – but by the movement of his hands and the heat of his breath, he didn't seem to mind.

It was probably just the adrenaline crossed with the frustrated anger fuelling me on – but if that was the case, I was getting madder and more exhilarated as the seconds passed. So was Edward.

His hands went up the back of my black t-shirt, moving round and round and setting my skin on icy fire. He was kissing me with an enthusiasm I'd never experienced before – I realised just how much he'd held control of himself during our relationship. I was also discovering how very forward _I_ could be.

I slid forward a little, perching myself strongly over his most sensitive part. He reacted by pulling me so close it hurt, but it still didn't feel close enough. However, this restricted the movement his lips were allowed, so he flipped me over onto the mattress so I was under him. I giggled with giddiness, my hair flurried out above my head. Edward paused to look at me, looking more animalistic and sexy than ever, and I felt the strongest ache between my legs. As if he could read my mind, Edward brought one hand around from just under my ribs, excruciatingly slowly, and danced his fingertips at the hem of my jeans.

My skin was on fire, hot, loud, sweaty bloody fire and he was fanning the flames with a touch. So unfair.

He leaned down and touched his lips to the skin just below my belly button, dragging them to the button on my jeans. I bit my lip to stop myself from screaming – then I felt a surge of passionate frustration. I leaned forward and seized his collar, yanking him up so I had access to his face. I ran my hands through his hair, scraping my nails firmly down his neck and across his shoulders. He seemed to like that, from the growl I felt on my jaw where he was concentrating his excellent skills.

He had his body pressed heavily against me but it seemed that he would never quite be heavy enough. I wanted him so badly it was making my bones electrify – not to mention that absolutely crazy zing in my trousers.

I nipped at his ear, not wanting to hurt him, and I reached down in a strategic move. I touched his stomach, finding my way by tracing along the lines of his abs, then found the ridge of the V which would lead me to my target. I only just dipped the tips of my fingers beneath the top of his jeans when he pulled his hips away from me, and I knew it was because he was having a harder time with the fire than I was. I couldn't see how that was possible, however.

I compensated by using one hand to keep his hungry mouth on mine, and used the other to trace up and down the lines of his abdomen with painfully light touches. I had another surge of passion and pulled at the bottom of his t-shirt until it bunched under his arms, where he pulled back for less than a second to yank it over his head. Normally, I would have stopped to admire the perfect lines of Edward's chest – but right now all I wanted to do was touch. So I dragged my hands over and over his body.

Edward, apparently, wanted more. I had no objection. He unbuttoned my jeans and undid the zipper without looking, then pulled them halfway down my thighs with his hands. I wondered what he was doing when he came back up to kiss me – but then I felt my jeans slide off. But his hands were on my back – I looked down and saw the crotch of my jeans hanging off his foot. Clever boy.

"That all you got?" I teased breathily, impressed.

He upped the stakes by kissing me with pressure just under my jaw, then jumped up to the door. I propped myself up, ready to protest, but he clicked the lock just in time.

"Edward?" Carlisle said from right on the other side of the door. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he said, incredibly normal-sounding. But I could see his chest rising and falling quickly. "I'm about to have a shower, so don't come in."

I got a devilish idea. Edward watched while I got up and walked toward him with just a shirt and a pair of panties. I stopped when I was a few feet from him and pulled my shirt over my head. I heard him gulp.

My hair had fallen over my face so I shook it back and ran my hands through it, taking another step toward Edward.

"I was wondering if we might have a quick chat, actually." Carlisle said. "About your relationship with Bella?"

"Dad," Edward said, his voice breaking a bit as I ran a hand down his chest. "We are _not_ having the sex talk right now."

I used the tip of my pointer to latch on to the front belt loop of his jeans. I pulled him toward me so we weren't quite touching, but the heat of our skin radiated so we almost were. I leaned back a little and undid the buttons and zipper of his jeans, then slid them down slowly as I could. There was an admirable bulge at the front of his cotton boxers.

"Green," I whispered in his ear. "Nice."

Carlisle was still outside during this exchange. "I think we need to talk about what happens when you decide to take the next step in your relationship," he pressed.

I bent down to the floor to get Edward's pants off his feet. He obligingly lifted them, one at a time. But I wasn't finished yet.

"Y-yes," Edward said, voice cracking. He was talking to me, but Carlisle didn't know that.

"Really?" asked my Principal.

"Oh yeah," Edward said to me when I stood up, dragging my finger along the inside of his thigh. When I got to the most sensitive part I detoured around it, knowing this would annoy him something chronic.

"Well, you're at the age when you'll be feeling some urges that uh… well, will make you want to experience new things with Bella."

"Can't talk. Shower." Edward stepped toward me, swept me up and over his shoulder and took a couple of steps to throw me on the bed. "Later," Edward called over his shoulder when Carlisle started to protest.

"How about now?" I whispered.

Carlisle's footsteps thudded down the hall, away from Edward's room. I barely noticed this because I was more interested in what was going on in front of me.

Edward started kissing me all over again, so I ran my hands over his silky back and through his silky hair. The man was like some divine luxury – and for some insane reason, he wanted to stay with me. I sighed with happiness.

Edward's hand slid between my legs, his palm pressed gently against the inside of my thigh.

"Are you sure?"

I propped myself up on my elbows and kissed him, running my tongue along his lower lip. "If it involves you, Edward, I'm always sure."

* * *

**I know half of you will be shirty that I didn't include the details of their dirty little escapade - but I will write them in the next chapter if you guys want to read it. And just so you know - no, they did not have sex, but Bella got fingered and Edward got a hand job. Hope that was frank enough ;)**

**Chapter 11 Question:**

**Your best friend's parents hate you. What do you do?**


	12. Girl's Night In

**Chapter 12 finally arrives! I would like to say that the next one won't be too long - but I can't. I'm sorry. I will update whenever I can but honestly, year 12 is kicking my across the room something shocking. I love you all for sticking with me though! Honest to God I do. Love love love. Go have a treat, courtesy of me :-D**

* * *

**ISABELLA SWAN**

"Hey, Alice."

"Hey! How did you know it was me?"

"There's this thing, it's called caller ID – I think you might've heard of it once or twice? It's a great investment."

"Oh shush Swan Junior. I knew that."

"So what's up?"

"Well, I need you to come over. Something's… Bella, I broke up with Jasper.

"Bella? Hello? Are you there?"

"Sorry, I was just pinching myself really hard – because I could swear I just heard you say you broke up with the man who you referred to not one week ago as your 'soul mate'."

"Quit pinching yourself. You'll bruise."

"So am I dreaming or what?"

"No, Bella."

"What the hell, Alice? What happened? What'd he do?"

"He didn't do anything."

"Then explain."

"I just decided we were better off without each other."

"You know I can tell when you're lying through your teeth, right?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"You're only a good liar when it comes to your parents."

"Damn."

"I think this calls for a girly night of chocolate and comedy films."

"Good thing it's a Friday, huh?"

"Certainly."

"I'll call Rosalie, yeah? I think she has something to tell us too, because she's been really quiet all week."

"Quiet in the way you've been?"

"You noticed?"

"I may have spent most of my time ogling Edward, but I do notice when my best friend is down in the dumps. How'd Jasper take the break up?"

"As well as I could expect him to."

"I guess the shock wouldn't have set in yet."

"It should have – I broke it off last Saturday."

"Excuse me? Why did I not hear about this until now?"

"Like you said – you were a bit preoccupied with Edward's tongue and hands and just the boy in general–"

"Point taken. I wasn't being a very good friend. But this weekend is going to be all about the girls."

"Damn straight. Come around at about seven and I'll make sure Rose is here too. I'll drag her if I have to, and I'll kick Emmett out for the night."

"Okay. See you soon, Alice!"

"Bye my darling Bella!"

- - -

At five to seven I turned the corner onto Alice's street and saw many more cars than I had expected to. Rosalie's was there, as was Alice's Porsche in the garage, but there were SUV's and shiny sedans and beaten up old trucks like mine. I wondered what was going on and if my track pants and black tee-shirt were too plain for the occasion. Alice better not have organised a party and tricked me into coming.

But when I walked up the garden path, I could see through the windows either side of the front door that there were many silhouettes dancing about on the couches with hairbrushes in their hands, pony-tails swinging as they loudly sung the lyrics to 'Love Is A Battlefield' by Pat Benatar. I smiled and knocked on the door, tucking a loose strand behind my ear while I hoisted my overnight bag up over my shoulder.

I stood there while another chorus and verse passed, but no one made a move to the door. I guessed they couldn't hear me, so I twisted the doorknob and let myself in. What I saw made me laugh out loud.

Rosalie, wearing an outfit comprised from various pink items and a fluffy purple feather boa around her neck, was sliding down the staircase banister. She toppled onto the ground, her feet unable to keep up with her, and bowled over another two pink women. Angela and Kim rolled around on the floor with her, laughing with tears of hilarity streaming down their cheeks, all of them littered with feathers and shimmery eyeshadow.

To the right were Leah and Sarah, Paul's girlfriend, jumping up and down on the couch while they sung 'Sweet Dreams are Made of This' by Eurythmics (which had only just began playing) as loudly as they could over the blaring stereo system. They had their knee-length stripy socks pulled up over their pyjama pants and were sporting whale-spout hair-dos. Ally suddenly popped up from behind the couch and started dancing wildly around it, singing the high-pitched backing vocals, complete with one-knee serenading at the appropriate moments.

I heard happy giggling from my left and turned just in time to see Alice, hot-pink and mud-masked, fall from the shoulders of Leah onto the couch in the opposite sitting room. The two of them laughed so hard that they shook themselves to the floor with tears streaming down their ridiculously blushed cheeks. I was torn between the desire to run before they realised I was clearly available for a makeover, and the desire to throw myself in with them because they were having more fun than I'd seen them have in weeks. Then Alice spotted me.

"Bella!"

Oh well. Here comes the nailpolish.

"Have some chocolate!"

"Thanks, Leah."

"Oooh, I love your slippers! Navy is definitely your colour."

"Oh Sarah, you're a sweetheart!"

"Sweatpants are for sleeping, Isabella. Not for squealing at cute boys and confessing your darkest secrets."

"I've heard the speech, Rosalie, but I don't own pink things."

"That's what we're here for!"

"Yes Alice."

"Let's get her into some eighties gear!"

"You're lucky I'm not feeling rebellious tonight, Leah."

"You're never rebellious. 'Whatever makes us happy', right?"

"Good to know you're on my side, Angela," I laughed. They'd all crowded around me and were trying to tug me in three different directions, claiming over the top of one another that I needed a facial first, make-up first, manicure first, chocolate first… not that I was complaining. Because Rosalie and Alice both looked like they were having the best, most non-boy related time of their lives. And who was I to spoil it?

An hour and a half, two batches of cookie-dough, half of Win A Date With Tad Hamilton and several breathless giggling sessions later, all of us sat down in a circle to talk. Alice, being a fabulous host and all, had thrown cushions and bean-bags at us until we were undeniably comfortable.

"I think," Alice began, sipping some of her raspberry soda, "we should play a game of Trust."

"What's that?" Sarah asked, twisting herself around on her cushion so she could lay on her front.

"We go around the circle and tell everyone something about ourselves and something about our boyfriend, which no one else knows."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea –" I began, thinking of Alice's own week-old break-up.

"Nonsense," Alice said, smiling. "It'll do me good to talk."

"Okay," I allowed, watching her carefully. I decided she was either unusually brave toward her emotions, or she'd been slipping something a little stronger into her raspberry all night.

"Me first," Leah said, clapping her hands.

"Okay," we all chorused.

"Well… okay. I didn't get boobs till I was sixteen; I just stuffed my bras with tissues and didn't let any boys get that far."

"Are you _joking?_" Kim spluttered. "You've got the biggest set of knockers in Port Angeles! What'd you do, swallow a bottle of steroids or something?"

Leah started laughing. "I think they'd been saving up or something. I actually have to try and strap 'em down these days, rather than boost 'em up."

"Life is so unfair," Kim grumbled, and reached for the block of chocolate in the middle of the circle.

"Okay, now for Sam's secret," Rosalie said mischievously.

"Hmm…" Leah thought for a few seconds. "I know! He's _deathly_ afraid of wolves. Can't stand them. Not even big dogs – they freak him out something chronic."

"_Really?"_

"Mmhmm. But what's said in the circle stays in the circle, okay?"

"Deal." Everyone reached their hands into the middle of the circle and did a group-shake as they said it.

"Who's next?" Rosalie said, looking at those sitting either side of Leah; Sarah and Kim.

"I'll go," Sarah said, more confident in herself among strangers than I was after two whole years at high school. "My secret; I'm not a natural redhead."

"No way!"

"Well… not _this_ much of a redhead. As for Paul… I was his first kiss."

The reaction was unanimous – "Awwwww! How adorable!"

"Angela's turn."

"My deepest, darkest secret…? Uhm, well… that's a toughie. Oh, I know! When we were freshman's I was in _love_ with Emmett."

Alice cracked up laughing. "I knew it! You were worse than Bella whenever he would enter the room!"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean she would blush worse than you."

"Oh."

"But I was too scared to even talk to him," Angela said quietly, blushing and looking down much like I do when I'm embarrassed.

"And Ben's secret?"

"He has a huge phobia about feet. He can't even try on shoes in the store; he just buys them and takes them home to try them on, then takes them back if they don't fit."

"That's so weird," Leah chortled.

"I know. I think he hopes I've forgotten he told me that because I teased him so much when I first found out!"

"Aww, that's mean," I said, but couldn't help but grin too.

"My turn now!"

"Calm down Rosalie, don't pee your pants with excitement, alright? This carpet is veneer."

"Do you even know what that means, Alice?"

"I know it means it's expensive," she poked her tongue out. "So there."

"My biggest secret…" Rosalie trailed off, thinking, even though I was quite sure she already knew exactly what she was going to say. "Mine would be that I'm gonna do a mechanics degree with the scholarship I won."

"Scholarship?"

"Mechanics degree?"

"Like with _cars?_"

Alice and I dived across the circle to flatten Rosalie. We kept chanting "You got the scholarship! You got the scholarship!" while we hugged every bit of her we could reach. She hugged us back.

"I wanted to find the right time to tell you guys. Emmett doesn't know yet so keep it quiet, if you wouldn't mind," she said, speaking to the whole group now. "I want to surprise him when he finds out we're going to be at the same university next year."

"What do you mean? We haven't even touched application letters for universities yet, we don't have our final grades or anything."

Rosalie had a sparkle in her eye now. "You don't have to apply if they're the ones chasing _you_."

"Emmett got an offer from a university?" Alice asked, and I could hear in her voice that Emmett hadn't told this to their parents. Or her, for that matter. Alice hated being surprised.

"Dartmouth offered him a place for next year. He said he didn't want to accept or decline until he knew what I was doing, so he didn't want to get your parent's hopes up for no reason. But now I'm going to be at Dartmouth too."

"That's so cool!" Alice squealed, leaping all over Rosalie again. "You two are going to be the most adorable couple! I _have_ to help you organise the wedding. I love weddings!"

"Sure thing Alice," she said, but I saw a very quick shadow cross her face. Alice was too busy clapping her hands to notice, and like Edward, Rosalie covered her emotional lapse right away so I couldn't be sure if it was there in the first place. I let it drop by diverting the subject.

"Well, no one else is going to live up to Rosalie's bombshells, but we can try. Alice? Your turn."

She folded her legs across each other, Indian style, and leaned her chin on her fist while she thought. "My biggest secret," she said after a few seconds, "is that I believe I can tell the future."

"That's not a secret!" Rosalie interjected. "Everyone knows you're a flippin' psychic. You have to come up with something we actually don't know about you."

Now Alice's eyes were the ones sparkling. "Okay, but this is heavy, trust me. You're going to be scandalised to a ridiculous degree."

"Scrap the hype and spill it," Leah said, throwing a square of chocolate at Alice.

Alice caught it before it sailed past her ear and popped it in her mouth. "I've pashed Principal Carlisle Cullen." **(A/N: 'pashed' = 'made-out with')**

I was stunned. _"What?!"_

"That's illegal!" Sarah's mouth was hanging open.

"When? How?" Leah demanded, leaning forward on one hand to try and seize Alice's collar with the other across the circle.

Of course, Kim asked; "Is he a decent kisser?"

"I hope you did this _before_ you were dating my brother," Rosalie threatened.

"You're such a liar!" Ally was laughing, truly thinking Alice's grin meant she'd been yanking our chains. I however, knew it was a smile of triumph.

She held up a hand to hold off the disbelieving comments. "Settle down now. Gather round and I shall tell you a story."

"We're already gathered around."

"Thank you Captain Obvious. It was a figure of speech," Alice joked. "Right, this is how it went.

"Remember when we had that stupid Pen Pal Meet Party last year? And after Bella left with Edward, Jacob and those guys arrived even thought they weren't meant to be there and were acting really stupid and stuff. So Cullen went outside and was making them leave; only he got into a verbal with Jasper. The two of them went around the side of the gym to argue in private, and being the curious little lady I am, I followed close enough that I could hear. Cullen was trying to understand Jasper's attitude and Jasper was being insolent as usual. Anyway, Cullen asked him if it was because of that crush on the Alyssia girl he had – and I guessed that was meant to mean 'Alice' because we don't have an Alyssia at Forks High – and I had to duck out of sight to stop myself squealing with delight. When I looked back they weren't saying anything, but Cullen walked off shaking his head and Jasper, with his back to me, stayed where he was. For some stupid reason I thought it would be a good idea to kiss Jasper then and there so I ran up behind him, tapped him on his blonde shoulder and before he'd turned around fully, I reached up and kissed him. It was _fabulous_. But when I pulled away, it wasn't Jasper at all – it was Cullen. He was horrified, as you can imagine – I think he thought I was his wife because Esme is pretty tiny, like me. And I thought he was Jasper. We each explained our side of the story and swore to never tell a soul. I guess I broke that pinkie swear but whatever."

"And you kept this to yourself for an entire _year?!_"

"Not quite a year, but yes. I knew he'd lose his job if the wrong people found out."

"Holy crap," I said, my mind whirring. My best friend had mistakenly made out with my boyfriend's biological father because she thought he was the guy who hated her at the time but was really in love with her, and whom she had recently broken up with for reasons unknown. Talk about weaving a tangled web.

"But honest to God guys, you can not tell _anyone," _Alice warned. "I don't want Cullen to get fired; he's a good guy and it was totally an accident."

"Pinkie swear," Rosalie said, leaning forward to the middle of the circle with her little finger pointing out. Everyone else did the same.

"Pinkie swear," we chorused.

"I think Alice is leading the bombshell secret race," Leah sighed. "I'd like to see someone beat that!"

"I'd hope Jasper's secret isn't as crazy as that," Rosalie murmured.

"Me too," I agreed.

"Jasper's secret," Alice began, "isn't that hard-core. But what it lacks in excitement, it makes up for in embarrassing-ness." She leaned forward, beckoning everyone to come in a little closer, and whispered, "Jasper loves to talk in Ye Olde English ways. It was his favourite kinky activity."

We all squealed and rolled back on our knees, clapping our hands and chirping "Ye be lookin' mighty fine t'day, m'am," to each other. Alice just grinned.

It only took a moment for us to sober up when Alice turned to me. "Your turn."

I thought for a minute, wondering what kind of deep dark secret I'd ever hidden from my girls. There was the obvious – that Edward and I had gotten busy in his shower following a sex-talk from his father – but I was content to keep that to myself. I kept thinking and eventually came up with something that wasn't _too_ embarrassing.

"Okay, my deep dark secret isn't as good as any of yours but I think you'll appreciate it just the same. Back in Phoenix when I was in fifth grade, I had a bit of a crush on this guy. For the purpose of this story he shall be called Frank. So one day in class, Frank gave me a note and smiled at me, which made me grin so widely it was painful. I read it and it said he liked me! I was so excited that I squealed and started writing him back. I'd only gotten as far as, 'I like you too, I have for a while-' when the teacher snatched it from me. The cow read it aloud to the class. I was so embarrassed, but I managed not to run away because at least Frank liked me too. After class I went to talk to him, and he gave me this weird look. I apologised about the teacher and everything but he cut me off. 'Listen, Bella,' he says, and I can tell he's about to say something bad, 'that note was meant for your best friend. Sorry. Talk to you later.'"

Everyone made a collective "Awww," sound for me. They had grimaces on their faces.

"It was terrible."

"Hang on," Alice said. "You transferred here for sixth grade."

My eyes sparkled. "Exactly."

Everyone erupted with laughter again. "Bella," Ally struggled to say. "I shouldn't laugh because it's mean – but honest to God, that is the most unfortunately hilarious thing I've heard all year!" Then she collapsed in a silent hysterical heap, slapping her palm to the carpet every few seconds.

"You guys suck," I pretended to be mad; folding my arms and pouting.

Alice whacked me in the arm. "Toughen up, princess," she joked.

"Okay, okay," Rosalie said after a few big breaths. "Let's hear Edward's deep dark secret."

"No problem," I grinned. "Although, Leah, Kim and Sarah might know this story already."

"Tell it anyway," Kim encouraged.

"Okay. A while ago Edward and the boys from up here were being stupid and wrestling, as you do. Somehow, even though he's not the biggest by a long shot, Edward was winning against everyone so he started to introduce dares to be done for the loser. He went against Jared, and the punishment for losing was to lick the winner's toes."

Everyone squealed and groaned and kicked their feet in the air with disgust, knowing what was coming.

"Predictably, Jared flattened Edward onto his back, and Edward had to lick his feet. He had to lick between Jared's toes and everything. When he told me I didn't kiss him for a week!"

By now everyone was crying with laughter again. Alice managed to say, "A whole week? Unlikely. You two are joined at the lips sometimes!"

"Okay, okay," I allowed. "Maybe it wasn't quite a week. But I made him wash him mouth out and brush his teeth till I could smell peppermint from across the room."

Kim was absolutely inconsolable. She kept trying to say something, but then would be overcome by another hysterical wave and she'd roll over on her side, head butting her neighbour and clutching her ribs. "Jared never told me that!" she eventually spluttered.

"Edward said he made Jared promise not to say anything."

"How'd he do that?" Leah queried. I understood as well as she did that Jared was normally a ratbag and shutting him up was impossible.

"Apparently Jared did something he'd rather not have spread all over Facebook," I said, hearing Kim's question before she'd asked it. "I don't know what it is though."

"I think I might know," Kim offered mysteriously.

"Oooh! Tell!" Rosalie giggled.

"You'll have to wait 'till it's my turn," Kim closed her eyes in mock superiority and raised her chin. "Speaking of which – who's next?"

"Ally!" Angela chuckled, throwing a square of chocolate at her across the circle.

Ally picked it up and popped it in her mouth. "I'll say Tyler's big fat secret first," she said, chewing on one side so her cheek was blown out. "Tyler is bigger than Ben."

Everyone cracked up laughing again. My sides and stomach muscles were aching. Angela looked scandalised; her mouth was hanging open and her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline.

"Too much information!" Alice was resting her head on her knee, her back shaking with laughter. "I'll never look at him the same again!"

"Oh yes, because your mind was _so_ innocent in the first place," I joked, pushing her in the shoulder. She kept laughing.

"And your secret, Ally?"

One corner of her lips rose in a devilish grin. "My secret is the fact that I know how big Tyler is at all."

"Aha ha ha ha!" Everyone squealed and fell back on their cushions. Ally, more-so than all of us including Innocent Angela, would seem to have the cleanest mind. Not a horny thought at all. How wrong we were.

"Ally, you sly fox, you," Angela winked at her. Ally went pink.

"Okay Kim, now's the time to spill Jared's deep dark secret," Leah spoke like a weird, deep-throated television presenter. Kim looked like all her Christmases had come at once.

"Well," she began. "I'll tell you my secret first, just to unhinge you. This is the story of what happened when Jared and I had our first kiss.

"It was actually the same day as when he asked me to go on a date with him, which I was thrilled beyond belief about."

"I second that motion."

"Shut up Leah! Let the woman talk!"

Leah sat back and laughed. I guessed she'd heard this story before, but was enjoying it all the more for that fact.

"He gave me a lift home and we were sitting in the car. It was raining so, yeah, neither of us were interested in getting saturated. And he leant me his umbrella! But that's beside the point. Anyway, we were sitting in the car. Then we each said our goodbyes, and he leans in to kiss me… but the thing was, I got this insane rush of adrenaline crossed with hormones and absolutely jumped on top of him. He had a similar reaction so there we were, sitting in his car, in the rain, me straddling him in the driver's seat, making out like a couple of sugar-high rabbits. What an example to set for the neighbours.

"Then there's a tap on the window. We ignored it at first, but it got louder. So I looked over and almost died right then and there because there's my dad with a screwdriver in one hand, oil smeared on him from whatever vehicle he'd been working on. 'You left your lights on,' he says, pointing."

Everyone was laughing in that 'I feel so sorry for you' way. We all groaned at the appropriate moments and gave Kim sympathetic looks when she finished.

"Now Jared's story, Jared's story!" Leah was bouncing up and down, impatient as hell.

"Right. Jared's story." Kim rubbed her hands together and looked around the group with one fish hooked eyebrow. "The boys were wrestling and playing Dare, as you know. Jared lost against Sam, who lost against Edward – so it doesn't make a lot of sense but whatever. They're boys. They never make sense. Sam's punishment was that Jared had to wrestle him again, but he had to wear a big cooking pot on his head. When Jared first told me this I said, 'Wouldn't that have been a bonus?'

"'No,' Jared said, 'just wait 'till you hear what happened after that.'

"So Jared had a cooking pot covering his whole head so he can't see or hear anything properly. And Emmett counts down to the point that they have to run straight at each other, 'Three, two, one, go!'

"Jared ran at him, full-pelt, and tripped arse-up because Emmett had gotten down on his hands and knees. He hit the wall and concussed himself. He's never lived it down."

Because Kim had gotten up and was moving around as she did it, using her hands and doing demonstrations and everything, it was that much funnier. I had my eyes scrunched shut, tears leaking from their corners, and my stomach was cramping with the effort of the laughs that were trying to get out. Ally had fallen across the circle and was cackling onto Angela's knee, who was thumping Sarah's thigh with her hand in time with her rolling laughs. Everyone else had generally fallen over, whether because the story was hilarious or because of Kim's facial expressions or her illustrations or a combination of the three I didn't know. But Kim sure as hell could tell a good story.

- - -

Later that night, after more cookie dough and movies and chocolate, most of us were falling asleep. Rosalie was sprawled out on the couch directly behind Alice and I, so we were talking in whispers. We were the last two still out of our sleeping bags when two o'clock hit.

"Damn," Alice said, squinting at the digital numbers on the stereo. "We should get some sleep."

"Probably," I stifled a yawn. I looked around for my pillow. "Damn it," I tutted at myself, standing up.

"What?"

"I forgot my pillow. Won't be a minute."

"'Kay," Alice yawned, flopping down on her pillow. I knew that she'd be asleep when I came back in.

I pulled my shoes on over my socks and grabbed Rosalie's long marshmallow jacket before I dug around for my keys and tiptoed across to the front door. Quietly, I flipped on the porch light, opened the front door and quietly closed it behind me.

The grass was dewy, and I only fell twice, so I wasn't feeling too cold or creeped out when I clambered back onto the porch to wipe my feet dry. Until someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Bella?"

"Gah!" I almost screamed, whipping around with my key-hand raised. "Vanessa! Don't sneak up on me like that. I'll have a flippin' heart attack!"

She crossed her arms over her chest more tightly. "Sorry."

"What are you _doing_ here?" I asked, thinking of the time and temperature and how the hell did she get here and what the _hell?!_

She took a few steps across the porch and sat on the white wicker loveseat. "Dunno. I was just wondering where you were, really."

I sat down beside her with my pillow on my knees. "Didn't Charlie tell you I'd come here?"

"Yeah," she sniffed and wiped the back of her hand across her nose. "But I was a bit lonely."

"Oh Vans," I put my arm around her shoulder. I hadn't called her 'Vans' in years – mostly because I hadn't seen her in that long. "I would've been home tomorrow."

"But you were here, tonight, with everyone else." She looked sad. She knew that every girl friend Alice had was on the other side of that wall – and she was the only exception.

"I'm sorry." And I was. She might be all over the place and she might be a bitch sometimes, but she was still a person. She moved her head up to give me a half-hearted smile, and the porch light shone directly on her face for the first time.

The bruises that she'd arrived with weren't back – but I could see where they'd been. Like they were more than just one-time bruises. Her mascara had smudged below here eyes so she looked tired and depressed, her cheeks were slack, her hair was fluffy and knotty, and her skin looked blotchy the way mine does when I haven't had enough sleep.

I opened my mouth to ask her if she was okay, even though I could see that she wasn't, but she got there first.

"It's not your fault that no one likes me. Don't be sorry."

"Don't talk nonsense," I said automatically. Halfway through my sentence I remembered that I was probably lying, and Vanessa heard the hesitation.

"You know it's true. I don't belong around these parts much, Bella. You do though. You fit in really well here." She looked up at me, something like admiration in her face. My cheeks warmed. "I wish people liked me the way they like you."

I put my arm around her shoulders because she was shivering, and because I couldn't think of anything to say. Sometimes she was too perceptive for her own good. We sat like that for a few minutes, listening to the occasional smatter of rain on the roof, listening to our breaths and watching the white mist that came as our puffs of air did.

"You can be whoever you want to be," I promised her. "Anything."

"It's not that simple, Bella."

I opened my mouth to disagree but she saw it coming and cut me off.

"You've always been able to fit in easy enough – you don't bitch, you don't whinge, you liked everyone and are kind and I've never seen you be selfish at all. You'd give your lifejacket to a mermaid if one happened to come along. I don't know how to do that. I guess it's because I grew up where everyone has to look out for themselves or they won't survive but I don't like it. It's crap. I'm one of those people who are more comfortable lying then telling the truth about anything. Isn't that terrible?"

"Vanessa–"

"No, no, I know it's true. I'm not made for small towns."

"Neither was I," I grinned. "I hated Forks when I first came. But then I found friends and things weren't so bad."

"Exactly. You found friends."

"You can too, Vans."

"I can't. Tell me how, Bella. Teach me to be popular," she joked on the last word, twirling her hair and smiling in a very fake way.

I grinned. "The only things you need to remember are that people like honesty, consideration and trust. Trust is the biggest one. You can have all the friends in the world but if you don't trust any of them, they're not real friends at all."

"Trust isn't easy."

"Friends _make_ it easy."

She thought for a moment. "Okay." She looked up at me, not breaking eye contact. "I'm going to start with you. I'm trusting you, Bella. I'm trusting you not to tell this to anyone and I'm trusting you to keep me around despite what I'm going to tell you."

I twisted my body more to her and grabbed her hand in mine. She felt ice cold. "Okay."

She took a deep breath and began. "Like I said when I got here, I was on a road trip with my friends when Kirry needed to be hospitalised for a drug overdose. It freaked me out but it wasn't the reason I ran away from them.

"My boyfriend's name was Royce. He was everything I wanted – blonde, fit, really good looking, funny and kind and he wanted to take care of me. He always seemed very protective but I liked it because New York can get a bit rough sometimes. He introduced me to his mates, who became my friends too, and I spent a lot of time with them all once we were established as a couple. It wasn't until at least six months in that he told me he did pot. He asked me if I wanted to try and I didn't want to disappoint him, so I did it. I never liked it but it made him happy.

"About four months ago our group of friends decided it was time to ditch our parents and go on a road trip around the country. We took it real slow. We picked up weed from people all around the place and smoked it like there was no tomorrow. Royce would start to get really frustrated with me whenever I went to get food or to use restrooms or showers at caravan parks. I didn't think much of it.

"But one night I stopped by the caravan park office to let the owners know that we'd be leaving the next morning. It was a man at the desk. I'd barely been there a minute before Royce busted in, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out. He took me to the toilet block on the far side of the park where no one ever goes and shook me, screaming at me, wanting to know why I was talking to the office guy, was I cheating on him? Was I a slut? Did I want to get raped because that's what was going to happen… and a whole lot of other stuff. I was scared out of my mind. I made the decision then and there to get out as fast as I could.

"But then things changed. I started getting really sick and feeling like the world was spinning all the time. I went to a free clinic and guess what? Pregnant. Three months pregnant. I didn't know what to do… Should I tell Royce? I didn't want to stay with him and I didn't want a child of any kind being around his influence. I was torn. When I got back from the clinic Royce almost tore my head off because he'd gotten the munchies while I was out and I was the one responsible for carrying everyone's money. That was the first time he beat me. I had no other option but to get out.

"I wanted to wait until we got close to Jacksonville for me to skip out. I told this to Kirry and it got back to Royce. He was furious. He beat me unconscious for a full day, and when I woke up in a toilet block, I had blood all around my legs. My baby. Bella," she sobbed, her face twisting in pain. "He killed my child!"

My mind was spinning. Pregnant. Abused. Drugs. Miscarriage. And she was no older than me. "Shh," I soothed. "You're safe now."

"Kirry went to hospital for an overdose and I had no one. I couldn't go home," she hiccoughed into my jacket. "Not after that… I needed out.

"It hurt to speak, to move. I thought he might have broken my ribs or my jaw but no, he didn't, so I didn't have a reason to stay in hospital. When I left the free clinic that time with a prescription for painkillers and advice to see a counsellor about the miscarriage, I didn't go back to the van. I caught a bus from Jacksonville across the country to Seattle, then another bus to Port Angeles. I ran out of money and had to hitchhike to Forks. When I saw you and Charlie it was the happiest moment of my life.

"I just hope Royce doesn't find me here."

* * *

**Okay, what does everyone think? Did you like the embarrassing moments shared between everyone?**

**Chapter 12 Question:**

**Who would you die for? (Interpret however you wish.)**


	13. Jacob

**I'm ridiculous, I know. Inconsistency pisses me off too. But I do try to get these chapters out as best I can! Hope there aren't too many mistakes. Love your opinions!**

**This chapter is dedicated to 4vr17Vi. The simplest things mean the most :-D**

**

* * *

**

**ISABELLA SWAN**

When I brought Vanessa inside after our talk on the porch, Alice didn't look so much shocked at Vanessa's sudden appearance as shocked at that fact that I'd brought her inside at all. But when I told her that Vanessa just needed us to cut her some slack for a night, she reverted to silently pursing her lips and avoiding being in the same room as my cousin. I couldn't have asked for more than that.

By Monday, Rosalie had been forgiving enough to talk to Vanessa without worrying whether Alice was picturing our heads spontaneously combusting. I admired the girl's pluck. So it was with Rosalie that Vanessa and I walked through the main doors with when we arrived at school.

We stopped dead, and I was momentarily thankful that Alice wasn't walking with us after all.

Plastered over the walls, lockers and even on the ceiling, were pictures of Vanessa that had been clearly taken by someone hiding in the bushes. None of the pictures were offensive but the comments under them definitely were.

"_Ugly!" _

"_Whore." _

"_Slut!" _

"_Go back to where you came from."_

All these things screamed from the huge posters in fluoro colours, impossible to miss. The blood drained from my face and I knew I was shaking, but I wasn't aware enough to feel it. And these things weren't even about me! I couldn't imagine what Vanessa would be thinking now. My muscles wouldn't obey me; I was frozen so badly that I couldn't even look from the corner of my eye to see if she was still standing conscious beside me or not.

Then I saw someone – they weren't moving, but the smug smile on their stupid face attracted my attention quicker than a neon sign and balloons. He was leaning against a wall with a few rolled up posters under his arm, arms crossed and one knee slightly bent toward us.

My heartbeat kicked into overdrive, my pale face flooded so fast it made me light headed. I was furious. Enraged. Livid. No one word or string of curses could describe the intense urge I had to smack him across his ignorantly senseless face.

"Rosalie," I whispered through clenched teeth. I didn't look to see if she heard me. My eyes were locked on him too tightly. "Take Vanessa to a bathroom. I'm going to sort this out."

"Break his legs," Rosalie hissed. I knew then that she had seen him too, and that she would have liked so much to be the one to tear her brother's head off.

Vanessa spluttered very quietly when Rosalie walked her away. The toilet door closed before I was able to move my feet – and for once, I didn't trip while running. Quite the opposite. If Jasper hadn't stopped me I might have run straight _through_ him.

"_You stupid asshole. What the hell is the meaning of this?!"_

He shrugged. "She deserves it. And I want Alice back."

"You think this will win you back your _ex-girlfriend_?!" I snapped, my nose coming inches before his. There was nothing romantic about the pose. I felt fifty feet taller than him, and ten times as strong. I was quite sure I could rip an arm from his socket if he said the wrong thing. I was kind of hoping he _would_ say the wrong thing, just to give me a reason to do it.

Jasper unfolded his arms and held the posters in one hand. He didn't move away from the wall. "I figure Alice broke up with me because she doesn't trust me after that whole thing with Vanessa and me sleeping next to each other."

I stared blankly at him. If I opened my mouth I would scream, if I moved it would result in his intense groin-centred pain. Not that he didn't deserve it.

"If Alice sees that I don't like Vanessa one little bit then she should believe what I've been trying to tell her, and be my girlfriend again."

"_Are you exceptionally thick?" _I growled. I actually saw a hint of fear now – his expression changed as he realised he was wrong. "Vanessa had nothing to do with it. Alice is not that damn shallow! She would have a bigger fucking reason for breaking up with you than just my cousin. She hasn't even told _me_ what the reason is yet! _Argh!_"

I turned away from him, incensed. I had intended to walk away, but he spoke again.

"She hasn't told you why she broke it off?"

I turned around with my fists balled. "No."

"Oh."

"You know Jasper," I said, taking a step closer to him again. 'Threat' rang in every word. "I was actually mad with Alice for breaking it off with you. I thought you were good for her. But after this display, she was right! She's better off without you. I hope you _rot in hell._" On the last word, I flicked him quite hard, right between the eyes. He blinked and took a step back.

I turned away again, but stopped of my own accord this time. "Oh, and Jasper? If _every single_ one of these disgusting posters are not down from the walls in five minutes, you will be lacking the necessary equipment to _ever, ever_ have children."

I walked quickly to the bathroom where Vanessa and Rosalie had gone, resisting the urge to go back and give him the injuries he deserved. Vanessa did not _need_ this! Why were men so inconveniently _stupid?_

When I went into the bathroom, I had already made up my mind, because my hand was already clenched around the key to my truck. Vanessa's tear-streaked, red-rimmed and pale face just sealed the deal.

"I'm taking you home," I said to her. "You don't deserve any of this, and you don't have to put up with it. No arguments," I added when she looked like she was going to protest. "Rose?" I asked, reaching to pick Vanessa up.

"Yeah," Rosalie replied. She looked distracted. I knew she was mentally composing an excellent speech for her brother once Vanessa was out of earshot.

"Could you please get creative and think of a way to make the school forget about the posters?"

She grinned evilly. "I'm sure I can think of something. Emmett can help."

"Excellent." I turned to Vanessa, who was now hanging from my arm. "Let's go."

"'Kay," she breathed. She sounded winded, like a cannonball had been fired into her sternum. I had had enough sport-related injuries to understand what that felt like.

Rosalie helped me carry my cousin out to the truck. No one dared make a comment as we passed – and I was pleased to see Jasper, with some help from Jacob, pulling down the posters as quickly as they could reach them. I mouthed some swears I ought not to repeat when Jasper looked at me. He still looked a little frightened. And so he should be.

When I buckled Vanessa into her seat, she was holding herself up a little better. Rosalie walked around the back of the truck with me.

"I'm thinking some comedic displays in the cafeteria followed by an announcement by the principal. They'll be distracting enough, yeah?"

I nodded. "Everyone should have talked it out by lunch. They'll be glad for a new conversation topic. What announcement are you talking about?"

"Well, that inter-school sports competition is coming up soon – you know, the one Alice and Edward are in? Maybe Cullen can say that there's a competition for the designing of next year's school sports shirts or something. I'll leave that up to him." She grinned, and I heard a thick _plop_ close to my ear.

I looked up and a raindrop got me in the eye. "Raining again," I muttered to myself. "Right," I directed at Rosalie, reaching for the door handle to my truck. "I'll be back soon. If I'm late to English, tell Miss Faulkner I'm on the red or something, okay?"

Rose laughed. "Deal. See you soon." She leaned around me to Vanessa and waved, mouthing her goodbye. I turned in time to see Vanessa's hand drop from her wave.

"Bye," I called as Rose weaved between two cars to exit the lot. I got in my truck just before the rain started to sheet down around the truck. I turned to Vanessa, trying to muster a genuine smile. "Time for the heater, I think."

She gave a small grin. "It's always time for the heater in Forks."

On the way home, we talked about absolutely nothing to do with school or any of our friends. We complained about the weather for a while, then reverted to childhood stories. She looked reasonably healthy when I dropped her at Charlie's, but still ill enough that Charlie would believe that she was sick if he were to come home for any reason. Vanessa had her own key, so I waited until she was in the house before leaving for school again.

I walked in to English five minutes late, but by some excellent fall of luck, Miss Faulkner wasn't there yet. She might like me and my essays, but she wasn't one to be soft on tardy students. No matter their average grade.

I left my dripping raincoat on a vacant hook and sat down beside Edward. The droplets in his hair caught the light like jewels. I was jealous; I probably looked like a frizzy water rat.

"Morning beautiful," he said quietly in my ear, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. I blushed. "You smell nice," he commented, leaning again to smell my neck. I blushed even darker.

"Hey," I croaked, my heart blocking my throat. I felt very warm all of a sudden.

"Where've you been?" he asked, tapping his watch to indicate my lateness. He raised an eyebrow sarcastically before saying, "I might have to give you a late slip for this, young lady."

I scoffed. "'Young lady'? I'm not much younger than you, bucko. But I had to drop Vanessa home. She felt ill." I added the tiniest amount of emphasis on 'ill'. Edward understood.

"You'll have to tell me about it soon," he whispered, because Miss Faulkner had just entered the room with a stack of books in her hands.

"Settle down!" she called across the classroom once the books were stacked on her desk. "We're going to be studying a play today, it's called 'Hair' and is nothing like that Hairspray movie that so many of you love…"

­- - -

**EDWARD MASEN**

"Edward, wait up!"

I kept walking as quickly as my legs could carry me, and that was rather fast if I do say so myself. I turned the corner into my Physics class and was annoyed to see only half the seats occupied. I was a few minutes early – this would mean Jacob would have time to talk to me.

I threw my books down and folded my arms. After hearing Bella tell me what had happened that morning to Vanessa concerning Jasper and his posters, forcing myself to my destinations without hunting him down to break his jaw was becoming increasingly difficult.

Jacob sat beside me, unhindered by my obvious bad mood.

"Dude, what's wrong?" he asked quietly. Everyone else was talking, but there was still the chance of an eavesdropper.

I did my best not to growl the word. "Jasper."

"You mean about this morning?"

I wasn't surprised that he knew. "Yeah. Bella told me in English this morning. She's been holding me down all day."

"You wanted to hit him too." It wasn't a question. His tone made me curious.

"Excuse me? You were helping him take down the posters." Because Bella told me every detail she could remember, just in case a lucky teacher was accidentally listening. She wanted to hit Jacob nearly as badly as she wanted to his Jasper.

"'Helping'? Ha. I started ripping them apart as soon as I saw them. I only knew he was responsible once they were all gone."

That's surprising. "Did you hit him?"

"Yep."

Impressive "Did he hit you back?"

"Nope." Surprising.

"Wow. Hope he feels bad."

"Should do. Got him right in the eye." Jacob sounded proud of this fact. I would have been too.

"I meant I hope he feels guilty."

He didn't say anything this time, but his face darkened. He shifted his folded hands and started cracking his knuckles. Alice hated that sound – which reminded me. Why had Alice and Jasper broken up? I'd never asked Bella, because she would have told me if she knew. She mustn't know. Interesting.

"Why did you care anyway?" I asked Jacob as Mr Varner walked in the room. He had some worksheets in his hands. Awesome – a practical lesson. Easy for talking time. And that would require partner work, too. "I thought you hated each other and all that," I pressed when Jacob didn't answer me.

He took a deep breath, like he was remembering something. "Nah. Just had a wrong start."

He was confusing me again. "You're weird, man."

"Yep."

Mr Varner silenced the class and explained the prac we were doing today. Everyone was going to go outside and throw various balls against a brick wall to measure their elasticity. The minority of girl's squealed and the back of my mind told me they were making dirty jokes about ball sizes. I felt glad Bella was more mature than that.

The pairs (I was with Jacob, predictably) were to choose one ball to begin with, then the groups would rotate until everyone had measured everything. More giggling from the girls. I rolled my eyes.

It was only safe to continue our conversation once we were outside. We started with a fluoro orange golf ball; Jacob did the throw and measure while I wrote down the dimensions and did the sketches. We worked well; it was weird how we didn't act like friends outside this one class together. Disappointing, even. Stupid high school.

"What do you mean, 'wrong start'?" I asked him when he returned with the measurements.

"I called her Nessie."

I had to laugh. "I never understood that reaction, really."

"Me neither." He shrugged, then a thought crossed his face. "Maybe someone she hates used to call her that?"

I pretended to be absorbed in the writing of the measurement. My heartbeat had kicked up and I wanted to kick Jasper right in the kneecaps – but only because he was the only physical punch bag I could direct my anger at.

"You alright? You're kinda pale."

Damn Jacob. Has to be observant _now,_ of all times. "I'm always pale," I tried to brush it off.

"Not _that_ pale." He leaned down and tried to look at me properly. I looked up at him and did my best to communicate without words.

"Drop it, Jake."

"Whoa, ease up. No need to lose your shit over nothing."

"It's really not 'nothing'," I muttered angrily.

"Pardon?"

What is he, part dog or something? _I_ barely heard my own words that time. "You weren't meant to hear that."

"I have a habit of hearing things that aren't meant for my ears."

I scoffed. "I'd noticed."

He blanked his face and threw the golf ball to the next group, then turned in just enough time to catch the basketball flying at his nose. I wondered if my reactions were that quick. Jacob would definitely be an asset in a fight.

He did the elasticity test and brought back the ball and results. I wrote them and waited for the group before us to stop chasing the rubber bouncy ball, which was evading them across the parking lot. It was heading for the triple-set of stairs. We both grinned as Tanya went chasing after it, arms almost touching the ground like a gorilla.

"So why is it not nothing?" he asked like the conversation hadn't suffered a break.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. A headache was coming, I could feel it. "I'm guessing that since you have a huge crush on her –"

"I do not!"

I raised an eyebrow. "We both know that's a load of crap."

He said nothing. My triumphant grin was difficult to conceal.

"Anyway. Since you like her (oh grow up, no one can hear us), I'll say as much as this. Vanessa had the worst time before she came to Forks. She doesn't need any of drama, especially not something as attention-drawing as Jasper's stunt today. I'd like to even up his face with another black eye but I know it would upset Bella."

Jake scoffed now. "I dunno about that, Bella'd probably be all-for a Jasper smackdown."

"I meant Bella would be annoyed that she wasn't the one to hit him," I grinned.

"Oh," he laughed. "Right."

Tanya finally returned with the bouncy ball in her hand. I hadn't noticed that Jacob had given the basketball to the next group on, but he had, because the pair next to us were throwing it back and forth between them. Jake repeated the test with the bouncy ball. He fired off the numbers and bounced the ball to the next group, grinning when the spin he had applied caused it to go in many different directions. Watching people chase stupidly after it never got old.

"So what happened to Vanessa before she came here?"

He really wasn't giving up! "That's not my business to tell," I raised an eyebrow at him.

"But is it mine to ask?" He really wanted to know about this. I vaguely wondered at the strength of his feelings for the girl.

"Probably not," I sighed. Then I added, "But you have a habit of doing stupid things."

We didn't talk about it for the rest of the lesson – it was more fun to watch people chase after that damned bouncy ball. But I knew Jacob was thinking about it.

­- - -

**JACOB BLACK**

I wasn't exactly sure why I was doing this. My conversation with Edward seemed to be the prompt, but something in my head knew I'd been awaiting the opportunity ever since I'd met her.

When I pulled up at the curb, I wasn't surprised to see Alice's Porsche reflect the headlights from my car. The yellow tones caught the light from the house along its doors, making it glow. I couldn't help having a closer look before heading for the house – I'm a boy, and I like cars. Enough said.

The leather seats were immaculately clean, and the upholstery on the dash glinted. I had to ridiculous urge to open the door to see if it still had that sought-after new-car scent. When I saw the keys dangling from the ignition I had two reactions – one admirable and the other… well, not so admirable.

Alice shouldn't leave the keys to such a beautiful car sitting in plain view, in the _ignition_ no less. Some idiot boy with a fetish for leather seats might come along and have a joy ride in it with no intention of returning the vehicle – it could happen. Even in Forks.

Charlie answered the door when I knocked. There was probably a buzzer somewhere, but the porch light wasn't on and I wasn't interested in feeling up the wall in search of it. Knocking was easier.

He looked surprised when he realised it was me. I did my best to sound cheerful – the butterflies in my stomach had all knotted themselves up.

"Hey Charlie. How are you?"

"Jacob! I haven't seen you in centuries, kid. I'm good, how've you been?" He had one hand on the doorhandle, the other clutching the remote. I could hear the sound of football commentary buzzing from the lounge.

"Not too bad Charlie, not too bad," I smiled. My stomach clenched as it realised how close I was to _her_.

"I guess you want Bella?" he looked to the stairs behind him. "Alice is here, so I'll have to drag her away."

He took a breath to call toward the stairs, but I cut him off as politely as I could. "Actually, I was after Vanessa, if she's available…?"

"Oh!" he let the breath out in a whoosh. "Okay then… I'll just get her." His eyebrow was raised. I knew it would look weird to him – I'd never come around before, let alone called the house to speak to her. He started to turn to the stairs, taking a breath to shout once more.

"Oh, Charlie?" I interrupted again. "Could you tell Alice to please-for-the-love-of-God, get her keys out of her Porsche before someone steals it?"

He laughed out his huge breath. "Alright." He turned to the stairs this time, reasoning that I didn't want him to shout for Vanessa. Which I didn't – but there hadn't been a reason like that for me constantly cutting him off. He walked to the foot of the stairs and called back to me, "Won't be a minute."

I only had to wait for a minute until he creaked down the stairs with Vanessa behind him. She was still wearing the same things she'd been wearing this morning at school. "Here she is. And Alice says to, 'Get bent, because no one in Forks would dare steal such a conspicuous car.'"

I laughed and called toward the stairs, ignoring Vanessa's suspicious gaze. "Insurance companies don't count that as a reason!"

Charlie looked between Vanessa and I. I looked scared – I knew it – and she looked like I was in for a Spanish Inquisition. Charlie cleared his throat. "Well, I'm gonna watch the game." He went into the lounge.

"Hey," she said, her voice going down at the end. It wasn't particularly friendly.

"Hey," I replied lamely. I knew she was expecting more than that, but my throat was stuck.

She rolled here eyes and tapped her foot a few times. "Did you want something?"

"Um, I wanted to talk to you." _Smooth, Jacob._

"About?"

She really wasn't one for pleasantries. "I was talking to Edward this morning in Physics–"

She stopped tapping her foot and raised her face slightly. She was much shorter than me, really. I hadn't noticed before. "I don't need a pity party."

"Huh?" The way her lips moved when she said 'p' was extremely distracting.

"About the posters."

"Oh yeah. I mean, I know, I'm not here about that."

She raised her eyebrows. Tapped her foot. "Then what _are_ you here about?"

"I'm interested in you."

Her face froze, her foot stopped in mid air. I wasn't sure whether she horrified or not, so I blundered out the words.

"No, no, I mean, I'm interested in what happened to you before you came here." _Damn it. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Couldn't have just told her how you feel, could you?_ "I'd like to be friends… I know we got off to a crappy start but I figure, if we can forget about that, then maybe–"

She moved so quick I didn't see it – but half a moment later we were outside on the dark porch and she was closing the door as quietly as she could behind us. She turned, stood very close to me and spoke right in my face. I had to lock my limbs in place – her dark lips were magnets to mine as far as I was concerned. It took much concentration to stop myself jumping her.

"You listen to me, Jacob Black," she whispered furiously. "What happened to me before I came here is none of your business."

"But–"

"No 'but's," she jabbed a finger into my chest. It hurt a little. "My life is just that; _my _life. No one else's. I don't have to tell you shit."

Whoa, she could go from mild to wild in a second. And she could move fast as hell – she was opening the door to disappear inside before I realised.

"What the hell?!" I snapped, grabbing the handle to stop her. Her fingers were just shy of the back of my hand. "I'm trying to be nice and you throw it back in my face? What the fuck is with chicks in this town? You try'n do something right and they get their knickers in a fucking knot!"

"I'm not _from_ this town," she argued back, her hand still paused by the doorhandle.

"Clearly," I clucked sarcastically.

Her hand dropped and she stepped closer to me again. "What's _that_ meant to mean?"

I bit my tongue for a moment, trying to withhold the urge to kiss her. A ridiculous idea. "Nothing."

"No, come on, say it," she challenged. "Be a man."

That was it. "'Be a man'? Ugh. I _meant_ that you always take things the wrong way. You're always looking over your shoulder. I've never seen a chick hit the punch bags in PE harder than you. What kind of life did you come from? A girl shouldn't have to protect herself like that. You never even take a drink from the school fountains, like you think it's poisoned! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were paranoid about someone trying to kill you."

"Maybe." And in that moment, she seemed to shrink a little. She was less of an unstoppable force of nature and more of an insecure teenaged girl. My anger fizzled out. I wanted to hold her again, protect her.

"What?" I whispered when she turned away from me. My hand rose of its own accord but I stopped it before I could touch her. She probably wouldn't like that.

"Maybe I am paranoid." She half turned back to me. I could see that her eyes had watered up, and as I watched, one spilled over and flooded down her cheek.

My stomach dropped away and I couldn't help myself. I reached out and pulled her to me. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."

Incredibly, she didn't push me away. She actually slid her arms under my jacket and locked her wrists around my waist. I closed my eyes and touched my chin to the top of her hair. She was very cold.

"You're warm," she murmured into my shirt. I grinned and held her tighter.

We both jumped when the porch light came on, but didn't move away. I felt her head turn to the door, where I was looking. We were both wondering if Charlie was about to appear and ruin a beautiful moment.

I had to break the tension; it was like an itch to me. Tension sucked.

"Thanks, Charlie!" I called.

Vanessa laughed. "I'd better go inside." She looked up at me, but didn't move her arms. Neither did I. We both stared at each other for a beat. The magnet her lips presented became a strong pulse under my ribs.

I bent my head down to her as she turned hers to me. I could feel the warmth from her nose, her eyes closed…

"Nessie…" I whispered, touching the edge of my lips to hers.

"No!" she suddenly screamed, leaping away from me like I'd electrocuted her. "No!" she screamed again. "Don't, not again, no!"

I only caught a glimpse of her before she ran away. Her pupils were huge, her hair somehow tangled and haphazard. She was pale as Edward had been. She tore herself away from me and leapt across the porch, avoiding the steps completely, and was hidden under the blanket of darkness before I could raise a hand to stop her.

"Nessie!" I called, taking a step out. A hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"What did you do to her, boy?" Charlie threatened from behind me. He had a surprisingly tough grip for such a short guy.

I was still searching the darkness for her. I didn't look at Charlie. "Nothing, she just, freaked out on me."

"Vanessa!" Charlie yelled out. "Vanessa!"

There was a scuffling on the stairs behind me, then Alice and Bella were in my peripherals. Bella started to ask something, but stopped when a car door slamming was heard across the lawn. I felt the fear emanate from us all as the Porsche's lights came on.

"My car!" Alice screamed, starting to run down the steps. The interior light wasn't on so I don't know if Vanessa could see us or not.

The engine started up. "No! Vanessa!" Bella called, following after Alice. They weren't even halfway there before the car pulled out and accelerated down the street, headlights lighting its path as it rounded a corner and out of sight.

I dug my hand to my pocket and started toward my car, but Charlie's vice-like grip on my shoulder stopped me. I didn't know whether it was because he thought I'd hurt her or because my chasing her couldn't possibly help, but he snatched my keys clean away.

"Shit, shit, shit," I chanted to myself, digging my palms into my temples. Why did I have to call her that God damned nick-name?!

"What happened to her?" Bella demanded of me, shoving her palm into my shoulder. I vaguely registered that Charlie had let go of my shoulder.

"I don't know. We were about to kiss, she freaked out and ran for it." My ribcage felt hollow. I was in a state of paralysed panic now – 'no car' equalled 'helpless' to me.

Alice piped up with an unnecessary comment. "Does your breath stink that bad?"

"Not the time, Alice," Bella said, shooting me a warning look when I began forming a swear-word oriented retort. "Dad, can you put out a stolen car report?"

Charlie's shoes headed inside. "On it."

I turned to Alice and whipped out my words before Bella could stop me. "I told you not to leave your keys in the damn car!"

Alice glared. She and Bella spoke at once. "Shut it."

* * *

**Guesses at what will happen, anyone?**

**Chapter 13 Question: (as supplied by the beautiful christinemarie13) **

**A group of people are hiding out (including you) and where you are is being searched. One of the people has a baby that begins to cry. If the baby doesn't stop crying then you'll be found and killed, but if you kill the baby then you'll all survive. Which do you choose?**


	14. On Duty

**So, here's an update quicker than usual. Love those breaks from school :D**

**Interesting responses to last chapter's question. Here is the scenario which the question was based on:**

**You're a Jew living in secret on the border between Germany and Poland during the Second World War. You know that the Gestapo are raiding the town, so you and the eight other members of your family cram into a small, hidden dugout at the back of the house. If you stay silent, you won't be caught. If you are caught, you'll all be stood back to back in pairs, and one will be shot in the mouth so the bullet passes through and kills you both. You all haven't eaten for days, including the three month old baby beside you. The only thing you brought down with you was the knife that was in your hand, because you were preparing a chicken for selling when the whispered warnings crept through the house. Above you, you can hear the Gestapo ransacking your house in search of you all. The baby begins hiccoughing in preparation of a loud wail. You've heard it many times before. At a guess, you have four seconds before the child makes the sound that will attract the Gestapo, resulting in everyone's deaths. You have the knife in your hand. One movement and the child will stay silent. Permanently.**

**What do you do?**

**...But I chose not to write that whole thing down because the Nazi issue would probably have taken away from the point of the question, which was about the moral aspect of it. Feel free to comment if you wish. I love History :)**

* * *

**VANESSA HICKEN**

My skin was crawling, my eyes were overflowing. I could barely see my white knuckles on the steering wheel. The terror straining in my neck was the only thing keeping me conscious – the intense fear that _he_ was back, that _he_ was after me.

"_Nessie,"_ he whispered, all of a thousand times. Just like he would before a sudden mood swing, when his palm would whip across my skin. Again, and again. And I could do nothing to stop him.

More fear dragged through my veins and I pushed my foot right down to the floor, convinced that if I could just go fast enough, I could outrun him. I could get away. And he wouldn't hurt me anymore…

I flew out onto the highway. No one was going to stop my escape this time.

- - -

**ISABELLA SWAN**

Charlie had sent out information about Alice's stolen Porsche to every police station in the state. Much to his frustration, Monday passed without a word from either Vanessa or the traffic controllers. Alice and Edward had track training at the school with the rest of the athletics winners from last year, so Charlie came into school to pick me up. My truck had wheezed and gone to sleep (I was convinced it wasn't time for The Thing to die quite yet) when I'd tried to start it that morning, so Charlie had given me a ride. Edward was taking Alice home.

"You're absolutely sure Edward isn't hiding her again?" Charlie grumbled when I got into the cruiser.

I buckled my seatbelt before answering him. "I'm positive. He knows that this is no joking matter."

Charlie just grumbled something under his breath.

Normally Charlie and I weren't big on talking – we both preferred the silence to meaningless conversation – but the silence in the cab of his car was thicker than usual. I sourced that to the extra thoughts we each had.

Charlie put on his indicator to get off the highway when the radio by the gearstick crackled into life. I didn't understand a word that came out, but Charlie did. He turned to me.

"Do you mind if we check it out before heading home?"

"Uh, sure," I answered, not sure what 'it' meant at all.

Unfortunately, Charlie missed my obliviousness to the situation and switched off his indicator, heading further down the road. Ten minutes of driving in the fast lane saw us approaching the worst bend in the highway – known as the 'Devil's Elbow', the hairpin corner had annually claimed the highest number of lives in the state for as long as records had been kept. I didn't understand why it hadn't been renovated for this reason – Charlie pinned it down to cost whenever I would ask.

The possibility of a car accident being Charlie's reason for the detour hadn't occurred to me, so the flashing lights, crawling traffic and copious numbers of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene surprised me. And made me feel sick. One who does not do well with blood, does not do well with gore. Obviously.

Charlie crossed the double lines to the accident scene, car crawling like a snail. I started to feel sick, even though I couldn't smell or see anything yet. I downcast my eyes for fear of seeing yellow.

The car stopped and Charlie reached up to turn on the cruiser's strobe light. He unclicked his belt.

"Won't be long, Bella."

He got out. I kept my eyes down. Why had he brought me to an accident scene, of all places? Especially when Vanessa was missing? My father was oblivious at the worst of times.

But then… why did I think it was an accident at all? Sure, there were ambulances and firetrucks, but that might be a precaution of some sort. Maybe this was a drill. Maybe this was a weird occurrence – like a tree desperately needing to be cut down or something. Maybe–

"Isabella. Do not look out the widow."

Charlie's door opened, and the car rocked as he hurriedly sat down. He was shaking, his face was white, his hands fumbled as he did up his buckle. The car started, revving angrily with Charlie's rushed efforts. He backed up and tried to get us away before I looked up. But he was too late.

The reason I hadn't seen yellow was because it had been burnt to black.

- - -

I pretended to be asleep when Edward arrived. My door was open, as it had been when I'd thrown myself upstairs. So I could hear their voices from the kitchen.

"It's all my fault. Shouldn't have taken her on a call. What kind of an idiot father am I?" He groaned and clanged some dishes violently together.

"Is Bella okay?" Edward asked him after the sounds of fighting cutlery died down.

Charlie cleared his throat. I could hear that he'd been crying. "She hasn't said a word since we got home. Thought maybe you could help."

Silence for a few seconds. "And Vanessa?"

"Burnt pretty bad. Firemen got her out in time, though. She's in hospital, having emergency skin grafting surgery. Seattle. I want to go see her, to be there for her when she wakes up, but I don't want to move Bella if she's not ready."

"Right," Edward said. There wasn't really an appropriate response for something like that.

"Tried calling her father. Apparently they're off on a cruise in the Caribbean."

Edward sighed. "You should go to Seattle. I'll bring Bella up with me tomorrow or maybe Wednesday. She'll be fine." I wasn't sure whether that last sentence was meant to apply to me or Vanessa.

I heard Charlie sit down. "Maybe. Go up, talk to her. See what you can do."

"She'll be fine, Charlie," Edward repeated. Then his feet lightly crossed the tiles of the kitchen, and I heard him climbing the stairs. A moment later he was at my door.

I was lying in the foetal position, facing him. I'd been staring at the same spot on the wall for the last hour, quiet tears making a wet patch under my cheek. It was cold now.

Edward closed the door behind him and came over to the bed. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. I don't know if I sat up or if he pulled me up, but all I registered was that his arms were around me and my tears were streaking down rather than across. My knees were bent across his lap, my hands under my chin. I'd curled myself together so tightly that it hurt. He put his arms around me, warming me, and I cried. I wished the tears would take with them the memories of what I'd seen on that highway.

* * *

**Okay, cool. Thoughts?**

**Chapter 14 Question:**

**What does your ideal 50th birthday celebration include?**


	15. Together Again

**Okay, feel free to hate me. This update comes at a ridiculously delayed time. I regret to say that it may well be a trend - I haven't even been able to reply to your beautiful reviews from the last chapter (or even other stories! Argh!). I hope this chapter satiates some kind of hunger, however. Thanks, as always, for reading :D**

* * *

Alice,

You walked into this waiting room and sat directly opposite me. Why didn't you sit somewhere out of my line of sight? Looking at you all the time makes it hard to keep my butt in the seat. I want to hug you. Am I allowed that much?

Jasper x

- - -

Jazz-

I sat here because it makes it easier for me to handle the situation. Bella's currently drenching Edward in tears where Charlie can't see them – so if I can see _you_ I feel less… guilty. It was my car she took – I shouldn't have left the keys in it. The fact that Vanessa's here at all is my fault. Me and my stupid craving for fast cars in a town where they're not practical in the slightest.

I don't think a hug is the best idea right now.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice,

I don't understand what you're saying – for you, I'm some form of support from across the room? Wouldn't it be logical for me to at least sit next to you, because then you can lean against me instead of holding your knees so close to your face that you're folding in on yourself? And I know I'm not meant to say this to girls – but you look like hell. It can't just be from this Vanessa thing. What's going on?

Jasper x

- - -

Jazz-

I'm hugging my knees because it's warmer like that. Two people who are not technically dating should not snuggle up in a hospital waiting room. No matter how much they want to.

Oh, so now you're coming over here because you saw me crying.

Alice, I

Get off, I'm not finished yet.

I look like hell because I'm tired. That's it. Now drop it.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice,

This is stupid. Why are we writing down our words when we're sitting right next to each other?

Because you're meant to be across the room.

Well the fact that you're holding onto my arm for dear life suggests otherwise. And your defensive reflex about the 'looking like hell' comment – I know you well enough that there's something deeper. What's going on? You can still _talk_ to me you know.

Jasper x

- - -

Jazz-

Stop being so comfortable. I might fall asleep.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice,

You look like you need the sleep. Stop avoiding the question. What's going on?

Jasper xox

- - -

Jazz-

I have a headache. Shut up.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice,

If you do have a headache, then you'd hope that baby across the room doesn't start screaming its head off. Why are you looking at it like that anyway? You've been staring at it the whole time we've been in here.

Jasper x

- - -

Jazz-

I have not been staring.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice,

You know how sometimes when you're hiding something that little line on your forehead shows? Well you have three of those right now.

Did you break up with me because you're pregnant?

Jasper x

- - -

Jazz-

I am not pregnant.

-Ali xox

- - -

Alice. This is not the right time, or the right place, but there never will be. Why did you break up with me?

J xx

- - -

Jazz-

I told you I _wanted to go on a break_ because I needed some thinking time.

-Alice.

Bullshit. That nurse just walked past and gave you a sympathy look. She knew your name, Alice! You've been here before, haven't you, as a patient?

She gave me a sympathy look because we're in the waiting room, waiting for our friend who's in surgery!

And again you don't answer the question.

Fine. I've been here before.

Were you pregnant?

No, this is bullshit. I won't write to you while you're sitting right next to me dam

Don't try and make me talk right now. I'll get all horrible and hiccough-y and start crying and you won't want to be within fifty feet of me.

You're beautiful when you cry.

That's the most morbid thing I've ever heard.

Doubt it. Anyway.

I want to know why you broke us apart. Did I do something? I strain myself every night trying to think of what I could have done better, Alice, and I know you're not skipping through the daisies anymore. Something's really wrong because if you didn't feel anything for me anymore you'd be happy we're apart! But you're not!

Jasper, sometimes you need to shut up.

"Alice!" I called out. She'd gotten up and was almost running across the waiting room to the hallway. I was up and after her before a heartbeat had passed.

She was hurrying along toward the toilets when I caught up with her. Rather than seizing her shoulder like a gentleman would do, I reached forward and linked my arm around her middle. I'd expected her to spin out of my hold and sprint for the bathroom but she surprised me by turning and abruptly whacking herself onto my chest. Her hands were covering her face. She was crying.

"Alice," I whispered into her hair. I put my arms around her and made tiny circles with my palms while she shook with silent tears. She was soon hiccoughing.

Across the hall was an empty examination room, so I moved us there with as little jostling as possible. When the door clicked shut and I pulled the cord for the blinds to close, Alice wriggled herself a little deeper into my jacket. It felt nice, in a weird way, to have her need me again. I guessed this was why she hadn't wanted to say anything in the waiting room – words never came out monotone with Alice. Her emotions almost always got the better of her, and she would have hated breaking down with an audience.

It took ten or fifteen minutes – it could have been hours and I'd still have thought it too short; her closeness – but Alice eventually controlled the hiccoughs long enough to pull back.

She looked up at me and then used the palms of her hands to forcefully wipe her eyes. She smudged her mascara all down her cheeks, making a dreadful mess. But she still looked gorgeous.

"Panda _is_ the new look," I commented lightly, touching her temple with the edge of my fingers. I was subtly trying to touch every part of her I loved before I'd have to let go again. She seemed tense.

She breathed a laugh, followed it with a sigh. She started rubbing with the backs of her hands now, making a right mess. I just grinned.

"Sorry," she said after drying her face with my shirt. I liked having her close again. "I ruined your sleeve."

I turned my wrist this way and that, pretending to examine it. "It'll live." I looked at her again, grinning. She looked back with a small smile, and a dimple in one cheek.

I couldn't help it – I had to kiss her.

One hand went up to the side of her neck without my conscious thought. The other went for her waist, pulling her closer to me. She didn't make any resistance except to close her eyes and turn her head slightly – but she was pressing her body quite tightly against me. She was conflicted – but why? Why was she doing this to me? Why did she break it off? Why, why, why?

"Jasper," she whispered. She was trying to let me know that this was going to hurt us both. I didn't care much – trade for trade, if I got something good, a memory to hold, that lonely part of my heart could beat itself up for as long as it wished. As long as I had something of her to keep close.

I leaned my face toward hers, her eyes still closed. Our noses touched, and I gently ran mine up and down hers. Satin-smooth and delicately pointed on the end. Perfect. Then I touched mine to the side of hers, bent down a fraction more and got close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her lips onto mine. This was her chance to stop me, to stop us, from hurting each other.

But she leaned forward and kissed me. Her hands came very slowly from my upper arms, across my shoulders, and she gently held her palms on either side of my head. I moved my hand from her neck and roped it around her back. I could have touched my own body after reaching around her. She was so tiny, yet so strong. I never wanted her to change. I never wanted to let her go.

We kept going for as long as we could hold our breath. But eventually we had to stop – not surprisingly, it was Alice that pulled back first. I leaned my head on her shoulder and touched my lips to her neck, staying like that while I listened to her breathing regulate. She was holding me just as tightly.

"I miss you," she whispered, then sighed. I could hear pain in her voice. Too much. I hated it.

She pulled back and looked right at me, but I don't know why. She didn't say anything more for a long while. When she did speak, it was the sentence I really didn't want to hear.

"We shouldn't have done that."

"Yes, we should," I disagreed.

She shook her head. "No." But she leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. "I can't keep hurting you, and me. It's not fair." She looked at the ground. She was avoiding my eyes for a reason, I could just tell.

"Look at me Alice."

She resisted, but eventually her eyes locked on mine. They were especially blue after her tears.

"I want," I kissed her, "to be with you. And I know," another kiss, "that you want to be with me," another kiss, "otherwise I'd have a bruise and you'd be on the other side of the hospital by now."

She tried to laugh, but it faltered, and then she was crying again. "I'm sorry," she forced out every few seconds. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry for anything," I soothed.

She pulled back and stared at me with determination. Her hands were holding my face again, the way she does when she's mad and needs me to listen.

"I have a lot to be sorry for," she growled. "I pushed you away and out of a really big decision. I told the lady that I didn't know who the father was… and she believed me. Gave me the needle and said I'd feel sore when I woke up. 'Sore' didn't cover it. I could barely walk without a cocktail of painkillers every hour. I'm sorry Jasper, I am, I really am. I'm a murderer and I don't deserve you." She'd thrown my arms off her and flung herself at the door on her last words, but I was too quick. Something about growing up with Rosalie as a sister gave me uncanny reflexes.

"Alice," I smoothed her cheek, brushing the tears. "Were you carrying? Did you abort our baby?"

She just nodded. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. Then she clutched my shirt and fell into me more completely than before. I held her up and carried her to the chair by the wall. Once I'd sat down I felt that I would never be able to get myself up again.

"I'm sorry…" she kept whispering. I couldn't answer her, though I wanted to tell her everything was okay, that I still loved her. Because I was crying too. _Daddy._

- - -

**ROSALIE HALE**

I'd always hated hospitals. Even my mother hated them – that was why Jasper and I had been home-births. Mum and dad had been lucky that there were no complications with us, though there should have been, because when Jasper was a baby he looked like someone had glued googly-eyes to a pumpkin and twisted it onto his head. That would explain his insufferable ego, at least.

But I came today for two reasons.

First, that Vanessa was lying in a hospital bed, in an induced coma, with more scratches, bruises and burns than Bella has accumulated in all her years of klutziness. My friends needed me there for support.

And second, that Emmett wanted us to tell everyone now, just so there would be some light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. I privately agreed with him on that count – that happy news was warranted – but the hospital was still creeping me out.

We headed to the cafeteria where the other four were supposedly sitting. Emmett had been texting Edward for updates all day long, and that's what he was doing now. Apparently boys _can_ text while walking – but that doesn't mean Emmett doesn't run into things.

"Sorry!" he apologised for the hundredth time. He'd gotten his foot stuck in the spokes of a passing wheelchair and nearly upended the senior citizen in it. The old man looked at us through glassy eyes while the little Asian nurse pushing him squabbled reprimands at Emmett. I smiled despite myself.

We walked straight into the sterile-looking cafeteria around the next corner. Emmett touched the ends of his fingers to the back of my hand to keep me calm. His fingers were long enough that he could touch my wrist without trying.

Everyone was seated on the end of a long bench-like table which stretched halfway across the mint-green room. We headed for them. Edward was talking quietly to Bella while Jasper and Alice sat with their arms encasing each other. Alice had her face hidden under the fold of his jacket. I supposed that meant they were back together – and a good thing, too. Jasper had become contagiously depressing in social scenes.

"Hey guys," Emmett said in a carefully-controlled cheery voice.

Edward and Bella each smiled at us, but Bella's eyes were clouded. She looked ridiculously tired. Jasper made an attempt to smile but it faltered too quickly. Alice just wriggled a little so her ear was uncovered.

"Hey," came her muffled voice. I wasn't sure if she was crying.

"How are you?" I asked Bella with concern in my voice.

She just shrugged. I nodded understandingly. "And how is she?" I directed at Edward. He knew who I meant.

"The same. Still under, but she's out of surgery at least. The docs said it went well." Bella then closed her eyes and leaned into Edward's shoulder, dipping her head down. I suspected that the urge to sleep had been building for a while.

Emmett got Edward's attention without making a sound. The two of them communicated silently, Emmett enquiring about Bella's health. Apparently she hadn't slept for the last twenty-four hours and hadn't said a word either.

I made to sit down on the bench in front of us, but Emmett held me up and whispered in my ear, "We should tell them now. They look like a bit of good news would be welcomed."

I nodded. "Go ahead."

Emmett cleared his throat conspicuously. "Rosalie and I have some news." I think the tone of his voice gave it away, because Alice whipped around right away. She looked like a drowned racoon but the shadow of a spark was in her eyes. Bella looked up from Edward's jumper as though the movement took a lot of physical effort. The two boys looked at Emmett and I with polite interest.

"To find someone I love as much as I love Rosalie is a very lucky thing, and I don't want to lose her at any point in life. I decided to ask her to marry me –"

"– and I accepted," I finished for him. He smiled widely before leaning down plant a sloppy kiss on my cheek. I giggled and wiped my sleeve across my cheek.

"We're obviously going to have a long engagement, but yeah… We're getting married!"

"Congratulations, man," Jasper said, reaching over to shake hands. "And to you, Rose. You'll do well together."

"Thanks Jasper," I smiled.

Edward held his hand out for a shake as well. "We'll start planning the buck's night asap, mate," Edward joked as Emmett shook. They both laughed in respectfully quietened voices.

"You'll be a beautiful bride, Rose," Alice smiled at me. I leaned down to hug her.

"And you and Bella will make beautiful bridesmaids," I offered with a raised brow.

Alice took the bait like a shark. "Yes! Designing! Shopping! Fabrics!!!"

I looked at Bella. She was smiling but it was hard to see – the warmth of her smile was like a kite in a thunderstorm. I walked around Edward and hugged her too, but when I made to stand up she didn't let me up.

"Thankyou," she tried to say, but her voice cracked and nothing came out. She started to try again but I held up a hand.

"You'll rasp your voice. We can celebrate once Vanessa's up and running, alright? Chocolate and movies have never sounded better.

Bella nodded her response, but halfway through the third nod she fell onto Edward's shoulder again. She breathed a little louder and I knew she was asleep.

"Better take sleeping beauty to the visitor's room," Edward said, standing up and lifting Bella in the same move. He seemed to have had a lot of practise at it.

Alice and Jasper were lost in their own little conversation, and they had smiles on their faces, so I started to pull Emmett away.

"We should give each other space today," I explained when he started to ask. "Our happiness made them happy, and I don't want to jinx it, so let's go for a walk, okay?"

"Okay," Emmett said. He let go of my hand and put it around my middle. I smiled up at him, then down at my hand, which had the ring sitting on my palm. I wanted to wait until I was comfortable calling him my fiancé before the ring made its debut.

* * *

**Ruh-vyew? Love you all!**

**Chapter 15 Question:**

**When, if ever, has a horoscope prediction been freakishly accurate?**

**-Shaps :-D**


	16. Healing

**So, feel free to send me praise combined with threats for not updating for so long. This chapter is so overdue that I'm not gonna bore you with my ramblings. Onward!**

**However, I must advise that you go back and read the last chapter, or even the last few paragraphs of the last chapter, just so you remember what happened previously. I tend to forget stuff about fanfics that don't update for a while. Don't you hate that? (Yes, I _can_ feel your cyber-glares.)**

**

* * *

**

**ISABELLA SWAN**

I felt terrible, on so many levels and for so many reasons.

First, there was the physical tiredness. It seemed there were invisible weights tied to my limbs, my eyelids and my consciousness. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Then there was the feeling of selfishness that I hated myself for – I was very nearly monopolising everyone's worries over my quietness and depressed state. The funny thing was that even though I was obviously depressed, I couldn't really feel anything. Smiling felt unnatural. My head and chest felt like they were filled with a thick, unpleasant and heavy black cloud, one which disrupted my thinking process and made my heart beat at an almost non-existent rate.

And I felt terrible because of Vanessa. Here she was, in a new town with people she'd never met before, and where was I? Off in la-la land with my boyfriend while she struggled to find her feet. She acted like she was fitting in without breaking a sweat, but I knew her better than that. She was too much like me and Charlie, deep down, for her to not be having a hard time. I was no help to her, even when she opened up to me and told me about her piece-of-shit ex-boyfriend. I could have done more, but I didn't.

And now she was lying in a hospital bed, linked to more wires than a phone company, her body swollen shut and brain barely responding. She was being weened from the drugs that had induced her coma, but her mental activity was staying the same. She was comatose, for real. There is no cure for that.

I parked the truck and killed the engine, but put my hands on the wheel and stared out the windscreen like I was waiting for something. I didn't know what. Maybe someone would come outside to get the mail and ask me what I was doing, or a police officer with a torch would tap on my window and request my licence and registration. I doubt I'd have the functioning capacity to answer either of them, or the voice. I hadn't spoken a word since seeing that twisted wreck of a car from the view of Charlie's cruiser's passenger seat.

I hadn't even been able to answer Edward when he told me he loved me. I still loved him. Surely I did. It would be stupid to think that I didn't.

Eventually, something did happen as I stared out at the darkening street in Port Angeles. A stray cat dropped lightly from a tree cracking the pavement with its huge roots, and it padded lightly to one of the open bins. As if it knew the drill, it jumped up with perfect balance and circled the lip of the bin before jumping in to rummage in the food scraps. Its twitching tail was all that I could see.

Deciding that it was safe, though I wasn't sure why it wouldn't be safe, I got out of the truck, shoving the keys into my jeans pocket as I went. Checking left, right, and left again before crossing, I let my hair fall in front of my face as I crossed the street to Edward's house.

"Hey Esme," I said as politely as I could manage when she answered my knocking fist. My voice sounded scratchy, like a long-time smoker, after having not been used for so long.

"Bella, dear, how are you?" Esme asked with a smile. She didn't have a sympathetic expression on her face, which I appreciated. They were the only faces I seemed to see now.

"Can't complain," I said truthfully, but omitting that I couldn't complain because I didn't deserve such a privilege. "Is Edward home?" I looked over her shoulder with a hopeful expression, the first in a while.

Esme stepped aside for me and nodded. "He's studying." Studying, on a Friday night. Dedication if ever I saw it.

I smiled and nodded past her. "Thanks." As I ascended the stairs and Esme closed the door behind me, I replayed her last words. Studying, she said. School. Both parts of a normal world which seemed a million years ago to me. And yet, a strong reminder that the world continued to turn, and I needed to grow up and handle things like an adult.

I knocked on the door which, by now, seemed to have a groove just for me where I'd knocked so many times before. Edward's voice told me to come in, so I gripped the handle unnecessarily tightly and pushed it open. There was an instrumental playing from his stereo, and I could see his profile from where he was bent over some work. There were text books scattered on the floor and over his workspace – unusual, considering he was quite particular about organisation. The lamp shining from his other side made him look dark and brooding.

"I'm not hungry, Esme," he mumbled quietly, placing his pencil between his teeth to reach for an eraser. He angrily scribbled something out.

Afraid that my voice would crack and he would worry without reason, I just closed the door behind me. I buried my hands in my pockets because I didn't know what to do with them.

Edward, still not looking around, kneaded his fist against his forehead. "I'm fine, Esme, I don't need anything. I just want to study."

He sounded like he didn't want to talk to anyone and, I reminded myself, I was probably at the top of that list. I turned and opened the door, but forgot to get out of its range.

"Ah!" I gasped when the corner collided with my head. I stumbled back and pressed my sleeve against the throbbing point.

"Bella?" Edward asked incredulously, looking around. His chair squeaked, then he was in front of me, trying to move my hand so he could see the likely-bruise.

"Nice shot," he commented as my hands fell my by sides.

I looked at him glumly. "I've interrupted you, I'll go," I said, trying to turn toward the door, which had swung closed amid Edward's fussing.

"Don't be silly, you're not interrupting anything. I could barely read a sentence without forgetting it right away. Besides, I'd much rather spend time with you, especially since you've regained your voice." He led me over to his bed and we sat down. "How are you?"

I shrugged with some effort. "Can't complain. How are you?"

He slid further back onto the mattress so I had to twist to look at him. "Fine. A bit worried though. There's this girl I know, and she's usually really happy. Most of the time I can't stop trying to make her smile because I just love _seeing_ her smile. But lately my terrible jokes and attempts at flattery have gone un-giggled. I'm not quite sure what to do, because she's very special to me, and I love her very much."

Ridiculously, soppily, spinelessly; I was crying. Every bit of pressure had accumulated as he spoke and as I realised how unreachable I'd become in such a short time, and my eyes reacted accordingly.

"And now I've made her cry," one cheek lifted in a lopsided smile. I dabbed my eyes, then sniffed and did a wrist-to-elbow wipe of my nose.

I crawled closer to him and collapsed, my head turned against the warm spot by his shoulder. My hands locked around his back, and he swung my legs over his thighs so I was curled up in his lap. I felt like I could hold it together, if only he would stay here with me. And my eyes kept silently leaking.

"She was still in there, when I saw the car," I whispered during a break between CD tracks. "One side of her face was all blistered and raw from the fire. She was screaming, so loudly, I could hear her over every other sound like it was just me and her in an empty church. There were lights everywhere, blurring everything. And the noises… stuck on repeat in my head… people yelling and panicking, Vanessa's screaming, the can-opener crunches of metal as they cut her out of the car…" I sighed. "All I could do was watch. I was frozen in my seat, convinced that it couldn't be real. Then they peeled the car roof and door away from each other and there she was, existing in an impossibly small space, the steering wheel pushing so hard into her chest that I couldn't separate her from the wreck." I pressed my face against Edward's chest until it hurt. I wanted to force the images out of my head.

"Bella," he whispered. "Oh, Bella." He brushed my hair gently, sparking something in me. I started to cry, _really_ cry, hiccoughs and sobs and nose running embarrassingly down his shirt. I clutched handfuls of material and tried to hide inside him. His arms were holding me so tightly that it hurt, yet it didn't feel tight enough. I think he wanted to take my pain into himself, just like I wanted to hide from it.

- - -

**JACOB BLACK**

I should have told her how I felt. While I still had the chance. God, I'm such a moron.

No one was sitting in the room with her when I came in, even though I had a whole cover-story ready just in case it was Rosalie or Charlie or someone suspicious like that.

_The nurse asked me to see if you wanted a drink or something to eat._

Didn't need to use it though. I quietly closed the door behind me, afraid to disturb her dreams. She looked asleep, and a bit scratched up, but still very pretty. I liked looking at her.

There were thick white gauze bandages covering one side of her face and the same side of her neck. There were tubes going into her wrist, elbow, a peg looking thing on her thumb, a breathing tube disappearing past her chalky lips… There were classic glass-scratches on her jaw. Her knuckles were red and raw and there was dried blood around her cuticles. Several pillows were propping her up. All this made her look helpless and weak, which she most definitely was not. It didn't look right.

"Vanessa?" I asked, feeling stupid. "If you don't want me to sit here, just wake up and tell me," I offered. She didn't move, only the respirator coil went up and down at a regulated pace.

The chair creaked when I sat. I'd deliberately chosen the un-bandaged side of her bed – both because it meant I had my back to the door, and so I could stare. Her eyelids were flickering slightly. According to my unhealthy NCIS obsession-related knowledge, flickering eyelids was a positive sign. It meant the motor neurons or muscles or something were still active, and that she was probably dreaming. Dreams meant brain activity. Brain activity meant better chances of recovery. Recovery meant that maybe she'd talk to me sometime.

Avoiding the soap-opera urge to hold her hand, I just moved my chair closer to her bed and stared unendingly at her face. The pale, chapped look of her lips wasn't right. She always used a chapstick to prevent that, I'd noticed. It had to be with her things, or with the things Chief Swan had brought for her? As soon as I opened the top drawer of her vanity unit, my first search effort, it was there, on top of a band t-shirt. I popped the cap off and warily approached my chair, slowly sinking down into it. If ever there was a point that Vanessa would wake up through her own personal determination, this was it – me putting chapstick on her wouldn't go down well with a conscious girl. Moving slowly as a fool poking a sleeping dragon in the eye, I leaned over her and brushed the chapstick across her mouth. Not a twitch.

"Hope that helped your dreams," I whispered, feeling utterly moronic. Her eyes continued to dance under their lids.

_And yet, if he had been holding her hand like they do in the movies, he would have felt her fingers twitch._

_

* * *

_

**Alrighty. Not the longest chapter, I apologise, but hopefully one coming up soon won't be so short. Was it good enough to satisfy you for the moment, in any case?**

**Chapter 16 Question: **

**When you meet someone new, what is the first thing about them that you form your opinion on? **

**Mine is hair. I always notice hair first, then eyes, then smile.**

**Huge to your all for sticking with me!!**

**-Shaps :)**


	17. Trade

**To the new readers; welcome! Hope you're enjoying this story so far...**

**To the old readers... my sincere apologies. This chapter is about a year and a half late. It's May right now... and I want to have this story finished by the end of the year at the latest. I'm a university student now :) it actually doesn't take up as much of my time as I'd thought... but that's not an excuse anyway. I will admit I've been lazy and inconsiderate to all of you who made the generous effort to review for me. I'll do my best to return the courtesy. Love all of you... here's another chapter.**

* * *

**VANESSA HIGGINS**

There was pain. Everywhere. It hurt, but I didn't quite feel it as much as I knew I should.

I tried to lift my hand to my eyes. It was heavy, like I was under water. My fingers ached as thought I'd just come off a long, long flight over deep seas and dry lands, and my mouth was horribly dry. Realising this, my throat automatically swallowed and I started to cough. Still, my eyes wouldn't open properly. All I could see was tiny dots of light in odd places. The coughing was getting worse and I tried to sit up.

Then the pain was horrible. Fire was burning through my bones, clawing up the sinew of my muscles to reach my brain. Barbs of wire were strapped tightly around my stomach as I retched again and again, desperately lifting my uncooperative hands to pull the provoking object from my mouth.

A murky white blob appeared in front of me. There were new sounds, I realised, to accompany the infrequent beeping somewhere to my right. The voice was soothing, but commanding, and something inside me realised I needed to calm down. I stopped struggling and let the hands move around my face and head. At once, my throat was clear and I took several large breaths. Then I was pulled forward, something supporting my back, and when I fell back I didn't go as far. The thing behind me was soft. A pillow.

Soft. Like hands, and lips.

"'Cob," I tried to say. The voice murmured and I tried again. "Jay… Cob," I managed.

There was def silence, then the white figure was gone. A sudden rush of tiredness hit me, the beeping slowed down, and I could only see the backs of my eyelids as I slid back into the dark dream I'd been prison to for so long.

**ISABELLA SWAN**

"She's awake?" I heard Charlie say from downstairs. Normally, I wouldn't have been able to hear even the commentary of his too-loud basketball games on the television, but tonight the house was horribly silent. No television. No sizzling of pans on the stove, or the gentle whoosh of the gas oven. The hum of the refrigerator sounded offensively loud in this place.

I'd been lying on my bed, on my back, with my hands by my side like some sick murder victim. I'd sent Edward away tonight… I'd taken up too much of his time. Every moment I was with him I felt guilty for stealing him from his family who, as much as I liked to deny it, needed his presence at least some of the time. He only objected three or four times before understanding that not only did he need to be with others, but I needed to be company to my own thoughts for a while.

Now I was sitting up on the edge of the bed. I didn't recall sitting up, just that I'd been lying one moment and was not anymore. I strained my ears for more information from Charlie, but none came. His footfalls did.

"Bella?" he pushed open the door after I listened to his feet hit the steps fifteen times. He'd only paused once on the way up.

I looked up at him, imagining what he saw. Me, feet planted flat on the floor, hands holding onto the edge of the mattress with unnecessary vigour. I knew my eyes were rimmed with black, my hair resembled a bird's nest and my clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them for most of the day. At least my shoes were tied.

"She's awake," I echoed, not quite believing what I was saying. He just nodded. "Let's go then."

**JACOB BLACK**

I had been in the waiting room. I barely left, the whole time hoping that something like this would happen, but never really believing it would. Despite my deliberate averseness to religion, I'd been praying a lot lately. Not exactly to 'God', but to something. Someone… _anyone_ who could help Vanessa more than I could.

"You're Jacob, right?"

The nurse told me she was awake. I blinked twice and looked away, not believing she was real. I think I frightened her quite a lot because when I looked back and realised she was still standing there, still giving me the same information; I jumped out of my seat and practically shook her by the shoulders.

"What's she saying? Is she okay? Are there any problems? Can I see her?"

The nurse adjusted her glasses and stepped back, picking up the folder that'd fallen from her hands.

"She's very delicate. You must understand that we're not sure what she remembers – if she knows who she is. I've given her a very small adrenaline shot to help her brain wake up. And she's asking for you. Protocol says we must do what we can to avoid upsetting people who've just come out of comas… so you may see her now." She didn't sound pleased with the announcement.

I stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were a watery blue, and she smelt faintly of cigarettes. An unusual trait for nurses, considering… but then again, I'm not one to judge.

Without another word I strode in few steps to the doorway of Vanessa's room. The nurse slipped in the other direction, fiddling in her pocket to reveal a packet of smokes before she disappeared through an exit.

Vanessa looked just as she had before. But then her eyelids lifted just a fraction, and I could tell she was looking for something. Warily, my feet carried me forward and I lowered into the chair by her side.

The hand closest to me was searching, her fingers crawling weakly across the sheets. I shuffled forward and touched her fingers to mine. She stopped moving them around but instead spread her fingers apart, so I slid each of mine between hers.

Her eyes were still searching. "'Cob," she rasped.

I pulled my chair closer and cupped her hand with both of my own.

"Vanessa," I said, my eyes starting to water. "I'm here." She kept looking around, becoming more agitated with her movements. Before I could stop myself I'd touched the back of my other hand to her face, and she turned to look right at me.

"Hi." The corners of her mouth turned up in a tragic smile, and she blinked at me.

I slowly flipped my hand to rest my palm against her cheek. "Hi," I whispered. "You scared me."

Her smile tried to widen. "Aye… yum sorry," she whispered. I leaned closer to hear her better.

"Jay-cob," she struggled.

My thumb traced her jaw, feather-light. "It's okay, shh, you don't need to talk."

Though she'd lost much of the control over her muscles, I still knew she was scowling at me.

"No," she said louder. "No, you… Aye needa tew… tew you… Aye wuv you…" she blinked furiously at me, clearly frustrated with her inability to speak properly.

"You love me?" I repeated, dumbfounded. She nodded slightly, watching me. I looked down at her in that bed, wires coming from every part of her exposed skin, the beep-beep-beep of her monitor droning on in the background. "I love you too, Vanessa," I said gently.

She smiled again. "Kiv me."

Raising myself from the chair, I kissed her gently on the cheek, the forehead, then gently on her lower lip. She was staring up at me, forcing her eyes to be wider so she could see me.

"Naw," she protested, squeezing my hand with more strength than she'd had before. "Kiv me, kiv me pop-are-wee."

My fingers brushed across her hairline, unintentionally passing over the stitches which ran through the shaved section of hair on the top of her head. My heart broke as my eyes flickered to them, then back to her face. She was so determined.

Gently, I leaned forward and touched my lips to hers. I was surprised to feel her lips move with mine. I tasted the chapstick she wore, thinking of all the times I'd secretly applied it for her when she'd been… sleeping. She lifted her tongue just once to drag it along my lower lip. We both shivered then.

It was short, but very, very sweet. She sunk back into the pillows, her hand still holding onto mine, and her eyes closed gently.

"Don' weave me, Jay-cob," she uttered in an exhaled breath. Then she was still, and quiet, but not asleep. Just resting. I pulled my chair around so I could sit comfortably with my hand in hers, resting on the mattress. She loved me. Whether she'd said it in a fit of passion at being alive or not, I didn't care. She'd asked for me, and she loved me.

**ISABELLA SWAN**

The lights were very dim in her room. Jacob was sitting outside, his eyes focused on the ceiling and hands folded in his lap. But he had a small smile on his face – the only variation of expression I'd seen on him since the accident had happened.

Vanessa had asked for me, the nurse told Charlie and I when we arrived. Charlie'd gone to fetch coffees for the both of us to pass the time… but I knew he didn't want to hang around the doorway if Vanessa needed to tell me something private. He had always been good like that.

She was sitting up more than she had been while asleep. That was the first thing I noticed. Her eyes were still closed now, but the tube down her throat was gone and her hands were crossed over her lap rather than hanging loosely at her sides. There was quiet jazz music playing from somewhere in the room, which broke the silence, and I appreciated it all the more for that reason. The only thing making me truly uneasy was the shrill regulated beeps coming from her heart monitor.

"Vanessa?" I said quietly, sinking into a chair by her side.

She turned her head and opened her eyes halfway. She looked the way a normal person would if they were drugged up on a million different painkillers – dark circles under her eyes, each of her blinks was drawn out, her movements were slow and deliberate and she was unable to react quickly to anything. I expected her speech to be slower than what it was, though.

"Hi, Ber-ra," she smiled a small smile. "Aye nut mint tuh be taw-kin, bat aye want you tuh know sum-fin."

"Anything," I leaned forward and touched her forearm with mine. "Please."

She blinked twice, slowly, and looked up at the ceiling, then back to me. "Aye di-dunt die."

"No," I whispered, shaking my head and smiling. My eyes were welling and I sniffed.

She looked closely at me. "Sum-one eh-oo-s," she struggled to form 'else', "havs to die. Coz aye di-dunt die. Sum-one cwose to me wiw die, Ber-ra, cwose to you too."

I stared at her. She looked back at me with innocence.

"Goo' moo-zic," she commented lightly, looking back to the ceiling and closing her eyes. "Ber-ra," she murmured, then her breathing evened out and she was asleep.

"Bella?" I heard a voice from the door, but not a voice I expected. I whipped my head around, the tears in my eyes being thrown down my cheeks and my hand slipping away from Vanessa's arm.

Flowers in hand, Edward stood in the doorway, the light from behind giving him the outline of an angel.

"Charlie called," he explained, taking a step across the room to put the flowers in an empty vase at the foot of Vanessa's bed. "Alice too," he gestured to the waiting room, where Alice and Jasper sat with Jacob. Jacob was talking to Jake while Alice held his hand and a coffee in the other. I didn't see Charlie anywhere and assumed he was talking to a medical official of some kind.

Feeling like I was rising from a deep, deep sleep, I stood from the chair and warily took the steps necessary to be in Edward's arms. He completely enveloped me, warm, and he smelled so good and familiar, and hugged me tightly.

"She said someone's going to die, Edward," I mumbled into his arm.

He kissed my head, and rubbed my back. "No one's going to die, Bella," he whispered in my ear. "Everything's fine."

I held on to him tightly, wanting to believe his words. But something in Vanessa's innocent conviction had scared the hell out of me and I didn't expect it to go away.

* * *

**So! Let me know what you think of the chapter, as always. Give me your best psychic-guesses :)**

**And the question for this chapter:**

**What is the most extreme part of yourself/habit/thing that you've changed for somebody you love? Doesn't necessarily have to be something in a relationship.**


End file.
